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| The Phantom USA Today Building Fire on 9/11 | |
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| Topic Started: Oct 31 2008, 11:40 AM (573 Views) | |
| Shoestring | Oct 31 2008, 11:40 AM Post #1 |
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Here's my latest blog entry, with some curious new information about events surrounding the 9/11 Pentagon attack. The original posting is here: http://shoestring911.blogspot.com/2008/10/phantom-usa-today-building-fire-and.html The Phantom USA Today Building Fire and the Evacuation of Arlington's 'Twin Towers' on 9/11 In a recent interview, Assistant Chief James Schwartz of the Arlington County Fire Department (ACFD) revealed an intriguing detail relating to the 9/11 Pentagon attack. Just before the Pentagon was hit, ACFD responded to alarms going off at the USA Today building, located a few miles from there. Yet it is unclear whether there was actually any fire. Other evidence indicates that, as a result of this alarm, when the Pentagon was hit a significant number of fire and medical units were already on the road nearby and available to quickly respond to the attack. Curiously, the two buildings of the USA Today complex were known as the "Twin Towers." [1] In his interview, Assistant Chief Schwartz told McClatchy Washington Bureau that, after the two towers of the World Trade Center had been hit on September 11, the Emergency Communications Center (ECC), which is the focal point of all police and fire 911 calls for Arlington County, started receiving phone calls from buildings along the Potomac River and along the flight path for Washington's Reagan National Airport. These were made by people concerned about what they should do. Among the callers were the building managers at the USA Today towers, who were afraid their complex might be a terrorist target and wanted to know if they should evacuate it. [2] The USA Today complex is in Rosslyn, Virginia, just a few miles down the road from the Pentagon. [3] It includes the two tallest high-rise buildings in Arlington County--the "Twin Towers"--the tallest of them being 30-stories high. [4] Schwartz recalled, "Our communications center, who didn't have a lot of other guidance to give them, told [the USA Today building managers] that if they felt better, based on what they were watching on the television and the situation as it was shaping up then, if they felt better to evacuate the building, then they should in fact do that." FIREFIGHTERS RESPOND TO USA TODAY BUILDING ALARM Curiously, Schwartz said: "Shortly after that, we had a fire response for alarm bells at the USA Today building. ... And I was actually dispatched to that building first [before heading to the Pentagon]. By the time I got to the elevator, the transmissions were coming out about the situation as it was unfolding at the Pentagon. I did not go to the USA Today building. I drove directly to the Pentagon." [5] Some early news reports even claimed that there was a fire at the USA Today building. At 9:46 a.m., local radio station WTOP reported, "We're hearing from a caller who says she is eyewitness to another hit here in town; the USA Today building may also be on fire in addition to the Pentagon." [6] The Washington Post described reports from "sources unknown" that the "USA Today building in Rosslyn was supposedly enveloped in smoke." [7] But according to the Associated Press, "Radio reports about an explosion at the USA Today building in Rosslyn were false." [8] Schwartz told McClatchy Washington Bureau he believed the USA Today building alarm had gone off because "people who were evacuating decided that they would pull the fire alarm in order to get everybody out of the building, and that initiated a response on our part." [9] But USA Today spokesman Steve Anderson, who was in the building the morning of 9/11, has stated that employees of USA Today and its parent company Gannett only began evacuating after the Pentagon attack occurred, not before it, as would likely have been the case if Schwartz's theory were correct. [10] FALSE ALARM HASTENS REPONSE TO PENTAGON ATTACK What, if anything, is the significance of all this? Was it just a coincidence that an alarm sounded for the USA Today building just before the Pentagon was hit? Could the alarm have simply been set off by someone who was panicked by the events in New York, and concerned that this building might be the next target? Or could the incident have a more sinister meaning? A possible and more disquieting reason why someone might have set off the alarm is suggested by an incident described in a federally funded report on the emergency response to the attack on the Pentagon. The 2002 Arlington County After-Action Report stated, "Just one minute before the Pentagon crash, in response to a 911 telephone call at 9:37 a.m., the [Arlington County Emergency Communications Center] dispatched several [fire and medical] units to an apartment fire at 1003 Wilson Boulevard in Rosslyn." But by the time the first engine arrived there, "the apartment fire was out." [11] The address of the USA Today complex has been reported as "1000 and 1110 Wilson Boulevard." [12] This would indicate that the alleged "apartment fire" at 1003 Wilson Boulevard and the USA Today building incident described by Schwartz were one and the same thing. What was the result of this apparent false alarm? According to the After-Action Report, "by sheer coincidence, there were a significant number of units already on the road near the Pentagon at the time of the attack." [13] Consequently, numerous firefighters arrived at the crash scene within about five minutes of the attack on the Pentagon. Captain Chuck Gibbs of the Arlington County Fire Department arrived at 9:40 a.m. A minute later, ACFD Battalion Chief Bob Cornwell arrived and assumed initial incident command responsibilities. At the same time, ACFD Truck 105 arrived at the scene. Then, at 9:42, ACFD Captain Edward Blunt arrived and established emergency medical services control. [14] CRITICAL QUESTIONS So, at the very least, the setting off of the USA Today building alarm suggests that someone may have had foreknowledge of the Pentagon attack, and wanted to ensure a swift emergency response to it. Establishing who this person, or persons, was will be one of the tasks of a new investigation of the 9/11 attacks. Investigators will also need to establish what exactly this person(s) knew, and from where they gained their foreknowledge. But might this incident have further significance? We know, for example, that there were numerous training exercises being held or prepared for by the U.S. military and other government agencies on the morning of 9/11. Some of these exercises are known to have had an uncanny resemblance to the actual attacks. [15] Therefore, could there have been an exercise based around the scenario of an aircraft crashing into the "Twin Towers" of the USA Today complex that was scheduled to occur at the same time as the Pentagon was hit? The confusion created by such an exercise could have led to the false alarm of a fire at the complex. Giving some credence to this possibility is the fact that, as well as being the home of USA Today, the Arlington Twin Towers also housed "several Department of Defense employees," according to the Washington Business Journal. [16] The fact that existing investigations have failed to even consider these questions proves how urgent it is that we now have a proper, unrestrained investigation into 9/11. NOTES [1] Greg A. Lohr, "Gannett Nails Down Dates for Headquarters Move." Washington Business Journal, September 7, 2001. [2] Michael Doyle, "Extended Interview with Chief Jim Schwartz." McClatchy Washington Bureau, 2008; Patrick Creed and Rick Newman, Firefight: Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/11. New York: Presidio Press, 2008, p. 48. [3] Jeff Zillgitt, "Put Sports Aside: Tragedy Affects all Americans." USA Today, September 13, 2001. [4] Suzanne White and Greg A. Lohr, "Arlington's Twin Towers Evacuate Tenants." Washington Business Journal, September 11, 2001; Patrick Creed and Rick Newman, Firefight, p. 9. [5] Michael Doyle, "Extended Interview with Chief Jim Schwartz." [6] Mark K. Miller, "Three Hours That Shook America: A Chronology of Chaos." Broadcasting & Cable, August 26, 2002. [7] Joel Achenbach, "Nation's Capital in State of Shock." Washington Post, September 11, 2001. [8] Matthew Barakat, "Pentagon Employees Feel the Building Shake." Associated Press, September 11, 2001. [9] Michael Doyle, "Extended Interview with Chief Jim Schwartz." [10] Greg A. Lohr, "Media Work Tirelessly to Convey 'Magnitude' of Story." Washington Business Journal, September 14, 2001; "September 11, 2001." James Madison University Alumni Association, October 2, 20i01. [11] Arlington County, Virginia, report, Titan Systems Corp., Arlington County: After-Action Report on the Response to the September 11 Terrorist Attack on the Pentagon. 2002, p. A9. [12] Greg A. Lohr, "Gannett Nails Down Dates for Headquarters Move." [13] Arlington County, After-Action Report on the Response to the September 11 Terrorist Attack on the Pentagon, p. A9. [14] Ibid. pp. A5-A6 and 1-1. [15] "Complete 9/11 Timeline: Military Exercises Up to 9/11." History Commons. [16] Suzanne White and Greg A. Lohr, "Arlington's Twin Towers Evacuate Tenants." |
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| DoYouEverWonder | Oct 31 2008, 04:25 PM Post #2 |
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Another indication that the planners did whatever they could to minimize the loss of life. I suppose it helped them rationalize killing their own people. |
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| 22205 | Dec 3 2008, 10:00 PM Post #3 |
Arlingtonian
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with all due respect shoestring, there are some real problems here with the stated theory, but there are also some real problems with the facts. perhaps thats what has lead you astray in this theory, allow me to explain. first and foremost, there isnt a 1003 wilson blvd. there is no building at that address. yet it is indeed the arlington county after action report itself which states this incorrect information: do a search for that address and you wont find any other result than the 911-related one. or check here and hover the cursor above the buildings: http://www.arlingtonvirginiausa.com/index.cfm/6314  there is no 1003 wilson boulevard, im 99% sure of it. i will drive by sometime this week and double-check, but so far the internet point towards its non-existence. by the way, if it exists, it is/was not the former USAToday/Ganette buildings. since it has an odd (not even) number it would be across the street from the Rosslyn Twin Towers (but more about that later). the 2nd fallacy in that report is this:  arlington is fairly small. at any given minute, over 80% of the fire and rescue units are within 10 minutes of the Pentagon. http://www.arlingtonva.us/Departments/Fire/find/FireFindFindYourStation.aspx  from east to west alington is roughly 4 miles wide. from north to south its roughly 7 miles long. full of major connecting routes:  so being in Rosslyn doesnt necessarily make the Fire Departments any closer or further than they would normally be in the first place, since almost all of them could reach the Pentagon in a very short amount of time. and when i think about it, actually being in Rosslyn (especially if searching for a non-existent apartment building), would impede your progress to the Pentagon. at 9:30am on a weekday, the traffic bottlenecks to a stand still where the bridges cross into DC. rosslyn is the only bridge into georgetown a place where tons of people residing in virginia, travel to for work. so being in rosslyn as opposed to being just outside of it and close to one of the thoroughfares that fire stations are normally placed near would tend to slow you down. which is exactly what i think the main objective was with this phantom fire. think about the scene at the pentagon and which fire trucks showed up first: fort myer fd and national airport foam units:  so we know right there that being close to the pentagon (in rosslyn) didnt equal these 9 fire and medical units getting to the scene first and/or quickly. but even that claim, of "9 units in rosslyn" is very convoluded and requires some thought. this story makes no sense:  IF Engine103 is the first to arrive at the scene and report that "the fire is out", then what happens to the other 8 dispatched units? dont they return to wherever they came from? so how are any crews other than Engine103 closer to the Pentagon as a result of this phantom fire? furthermore, who put the fire out? if Engine103 is "FIRST TO ARRIVE", did they put out the fire? so how did it go from a substantial 9-unit fire to no fire? it makes no sense. technically, rosslyn has its own Fire Department, literally around the corner from the 1000 block of wilson blvd: http://www.arlingtonva.us/Departments/Fire/find/FireFindStation10.aspx   but engine 103 is stationed at the Cherrydale Volunteer Dept. and has a longer way to go to reach near the alleged phantom fire at 1000 block of wilson blvd: http://www.arlingtonva.us/Departments/Fire/find/FireFindStation03.aspx   not only that, but once all these rescue units started pouring into the scene, a bunch of them actually were held back and away from the scene:  so there is alot there that doesnt compute. im not sure what kind of crap arlington county's after-action report is trying to pull, but it doesnt make any sense. i dont think they are making it up, but i think some key connecting details are missing from their allegations. but my overall point was that such an event, that of a "phantom fire" at "1003 wilson blvd" would more likely end up delaying engine103's progress towards the pentagon, than speeding it up. the way things played out, a couple of firetrucks DID make it there (to the "impact" site) quickly, and they DID impede the perps' plans: they put out the fires in less than 20 minutes and the scene was NOT "shocking or awe-inspiring" enough for mass broadcast appeal. so (somehow) the fires were re-ignited and the lawn area further staged to try and sell the "plane crashed here" propaganda. with regard to Chief Jim Schwartz, from "Extended Interview with Chief Jim Schwartz": http://videos.mcclatchydc.com/vmix_hosted_apps/p/media?id=1970190 (heavily edited video but is the original source of schwartz's comments) Curiously, Schwartz said: "Shortly after that, we had a fire response for alarm bells at the USA Today building. ... And I was actually dispatched to that building first [before heading to the Pentagon]. By the time I got to the elevator, the transmissions were coming out about the situation as it was unfolding at the Pentagon. I did not go to the USA Today building. I drove directly to the Pentagon." chief Schwartz says they had received calls from occupants of the various riverside office buildings asking if they should evacuate their buildings as result of having heard about and seen the 2nd WTC crash. Schwartz says he was on his way to the USAtoday building - responding to alarm bells - -and says that he "has always ASSUMED someone had pulled a fire alarm at the USAtoday on their way out of the building in order to let everyone else know to leave also. he also admits to heading to the pentagon upon the first report he hears of an incident there, as he admits to never going up the elevator to check if indeed there was or wasnt a fire at the USAtoday building. this decision was presumably based on his earlier assumption that there was probably no fire there. but he never says that someone else was sent to check the building out to be sure however, that there wasNt a fire back in Rosslyn at the Twin Towers. i understand that the pentagon being attacked was urgent, but a man in his position couldnt act on an assumption and leave innocent people in possible danger. what if he was wrong and the USAtoday building was indeed on fire? his willingness to abandon the USAtoday building and go to the pentagon is a very questionable decision and i have to wonder what made him sure enough about the usa building to leave it behind. perhaps he saw no smoke from outside and figured it was fine? he allegedly went as far as the elevator, but then left?! *** also, if im not mistaken, on the other side of town, an accident at national airport was also keeping the immediate response teams pre-occupied: http://www.public-action.com/911/rescue/nfpa-article/ NFPA Journal Online Exclusive November 1, 2001 ARFF Crews Respond to the Front Line at Pentagon by Stephen Murphy
*** btw - on a seperate note: at the McClatchey site, where i found the Chief Schwarz video, i found a pic of alleged fuselage debris i have never seen before:   *** |
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| Grit1645 | Dec 3 2008, 11:44 PM Post #4 |
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Wilson Avenue is on Google Street view, if that's any help. And wasn't Lloyde also in Rosslyn that morning? |
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| 22205 | Dec 4 2008, 01:48 AM Post #5 |
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Arlingtonian
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not a bad idea to look up the 1000th block of wilson ahem - boulevard - in rosslyn: http://tinyurl.com/5sn2k9 google doesnt always get the exact street address correct and even says its "approximate", google maps will actually put you at what it thinks is 1003 wilson blvd:  but the building that's there is actually 1001 wilson blvd:  for a more definitive and accurate view however, you can check here: http://www.arlingtonvirginiausa.com/index.cfm/6314 |
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12:47 PM Dec 3
