Noted author David McCulloch once wrote, “History is a guide to navigation in perilous times.” Indeed, if history is a guide, one can look at high-rise building fires that have occurred in the past to address the issue of building safety. This review includes the fires that the 9/11 Commission concluded caused the collapse of the WTC Twin Towers, and WTC 7, for which officials declared the collapse was due to fires. Two high-rise fires listed below occurred after 9/11 and are especially noteworthy.

The history of high-rise, steel-framed buildings spans only about 100 years. Still, there are a number of very hot, large, and long lasting fires to review. One in particular, the Empire State Building, suffered a severe fire when it was struck by a B-25 bomber. The fire was fueled by high-octane gasoline, when the plane hit the 78^th and 79^th floors. Here’s a look at some high-rise fires through history, listed chronologically.

It’s clear from primary sources of evidence that quite a few people believed Building 7 was going to collapse. Such perceptive anticipation might be easy to understand if it was common for modern steel-frame skyscrapers to collapse from fires.  But since this had never happened prior to September 11, 2001, we have to ask ourselves why the collapse was so easy to predict. The Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth suspect foul play.  Ubiquitous evidence of foreknowledge adds support to the hypothesis that explosives were used to demolish Building 7.

Witnesses on the scene included construction workers, firefighters, and police. One witness, a first-year New York University medical student  named Daryl, was interviewed for WINS NYC News Radio live on the evening of September 11, 2001:

“We were watching the building [WTC 7] actually ‘cause it was on fire…. The bottom floors of the building were on fire and…we heard this sound that sounded like a clap of thunder…turned around— we were shocked to see that the building was – ah – well it looked like there was a shockwave ripping through the building, and all the windows started busted out. It was horrifying,” he said. “About a second later the bottom floor caved out and the building followed after that… We saw the building crash all the way to the ground. We were in shock.”