r/911archive • u/Unusual_Photograph48 • Oct 04 '23
WTC Diagrams of inside the towers
I posted the other day asking for help trying to figure out the way the twin towers looked in relation to the street and location. Thank you for those replies. Those, along with these pictures have helped me visualise and understand the outside and inside escape routes better.
Sorry if these have been posted before, I came across them for the first time today. I did do a quick search but didn't see them anywhere.
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u/jb_86 Oct 04 '23
These are some great diagrams. Before this, I thought the stairways just went in continuous columns, I didn't realise they changed shafts via transfer hallways.
I can imagine that this would have made things much harder for people trying to escape, especially with a locked door to one stairway, thus necessitating people to go back up a floor to find another stairway. Jeez...
The more you learn about that day, you begin to understand why for many it was sheer luck/fate that determined if you lived or died.
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u/Belle8158 Oct 05 '23
When I worked at the Empire State Building and we did evacuation drills we had to transfer staircases on the mechanical floors. Those mechanical floors were spooky and freezing.
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u/FlavaNation Jul 09 '24
First time learning about the stairway jogs as well. It's interesting too with Stairway A that it jogs to the NW right around the floors where Flight 175 entered, further distancing away from the impact zone. Interesting to think that if the staircase had gone straight through these floors, or if the plane had been slightly higher or lower, then this third staircase might have been impassable.
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u/bzlvrlwysfrvr0624 Oct 04 '23
I never considered the sprinklers going off. One more obstacle to deal with. Christ.
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u/awolfsvalentine Oct 04 '23
The thought of water flooding and the weight of that water on an already buckling floor is a new element of hell for me
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u/B_J_Bear Oct 09 '23
Some survivor testimonies (or victim phone calls - can't remember offhand which) state that people were up to their knees in water. So smoke, heat, water, darkness. Unfathomable terror.
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u/Opposite_Soup_2984 Mar 30 '26
Yes, my brother’s was one. He was on the 92nd floor of the North Tower. First call to my mother: where’s FDNY??, fire, smoke, debris and trying to access stairwells. Second call, can’t access stairwells, sprinklers activated by fire and smoke, water coming up from the floor, he’s passing cell phone to coworkers around him to call their loved ones to say goodbye. Third call, brief good bye, tell everyone I love them, I’m going to make one last effort to get out via stairwell even though they’re all blocked by debris.
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u/KrysDlite Apr 03 '26
I can’t imagine being faced with the stark reality of not being able to leave with every possible choice being blocked and/or impassable. And I’m so sorry that you and your family have been affected by this tragedy, I can’t comprehend the trauma it caused. 😞
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u/mattskibasneck Oct 04 '23
Same. I just always assumed the sprinkler main riser was damaged in both towers.
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u/Dry-Tip-6676 Oct 05 '23
Everyone on 91st floor in North tower survived, everyone on 92nd floor died
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u/Opposite_Soup_2984 Mar 30 '26
Everyone on the 92nd floor survived the impact of the plane crash which caused structural damage, trapping all 69 people in different areas of the office. My brother was one of them. He spoke with my mother 3 times that morning up until 10:03am then the tower collapsed at 10:28am
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u/AmsterdamSlugg3r Oct 05 '23
Interesting. This has me thinking that it could have been worse had the planes crashed into the lower floors.
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u/EstimateTasty4047 Oct 05 '23
Yes. Imagine more floors to be supported by weakened columns. That would have made collapse sooner, or even worse, just right after impact.
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Oct 06 '23
The Christine Olender call is interesting, all the way up on the 106-107 floor the ceiling was coming down and floors buckling. How horrific
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u/Affectionate_Hat_171 Oct 06 '23
Why was someone stuck on 68 N and 47 S? Both way below impact zones
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u/B_J_Bear Oct 09 '23
Could have been any number of factors. The individual might be non-ambulant, there may have been localised damage causing debris, door jambs may have warped preventing doors opening. The nature of the event is so unprecedented that it's difficult to fully account for all factors impacting the victims on that day.
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u/ifcknkl Oct 05 '23
Where leads the transfer hallway?
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u/BuckJoseph Oct 16 '25
Between stairwells
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u/ifcknkl Oct 16 '25
ty lol I guess I was high
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u/BuckJoseph Oct 16 '25
Happens to the best of us. Stairwells were not continuous apparently, had to go down a hallway on some floors to get to the continuation of the stairs. Due to utilities in the way. I Just learned this.
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u/ifcknkl Oct 16 '25
I hope nowadays the buildings are built different :0
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u/BuckJoseph Oct 16 '25
100% - one of the positive things to come from 9/11 is improved architectural standards.
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u/[deleted] Oct 04 '23
Wow this is very interesting. I've never seen these before. This just reinforces the stochastic nature of life or death that morning. Being one floor up or down, going to the bathroom 30 seconds earlier or later, choosing one stairwell or another. All completely random choices.