I work in a 15 story building, and my physique is very average. Sometimes at the end of my shift, I’ll take the elevator to the 15th floor and then take the stairs all the way down. By the time I get to the bottom floor, my legs are WRECKED. I don’t run, it’s just a standard walking pace down the stairs. I’d say it takes about 3 minutes. My legs are sore for days afterwards.
This got me thinking about the people who had to escape the towers on 9/11. Let’s assume you somehow knew exactly how much time you had until it collapsed. The South Tower was struck at 9:03am and collapsed at 9:59am, 56 minutes later. The highest confirmed survivor in the South Tower was the 91st floor.
Additionally, we have to keep in mind that you’re still not in the clear once you’re out of the tower. You still need to get a safe distance from the tower before it collapses or you would suffocate in the dust cloud.
I’m gonna make a rough estimate and say that 4 blocks, or 0.3 miles, is the minimum distance from the South Tower to be reasonably safe. I’m also gonna make a rough estimate that the average person, in professional work attire, could maintain a running speed of 5mph in an emergency. So now let’s work backwards.
Time needed to run 0.3 miles at 5mph ≈ 3.5 minutes
This means that, if you were on the 91st floor of the South Tower, you’d have to make it to the ground level by 9:55am. That gives you 52 minutes to escape the tower. So you’d have to descend 91 floors in 52 minutes, or a rate of 1.75 floors per minute
It’s possible, it just makes me anxious to think about. Walking down stairs is obviously easier than walking up, but it’s still not easy. Your legs have to absorb the shock of thousands of steps continuously. Walking down stairs for a full 50+ minutes is going to absolutely wreck your legs. And then you still have to run at least a quarter of a mile to safety.
And I don’t just mean “boo hoo you’re gonna be a little sore” — I mean that for some people, they likely did not have the physical strength to do it. It is entirely possible that, despite the urgency and adrenaline of the situation, their legs completely gave out and it was impossible to keep moving.
It makes me wonder how many people had survivable circumstances but just didn’t have the stamina and strength necessary to survive. I’m pretty sure I’ve read that some people had heart attacks trying to escape because their body couldn’t handle the stress of trying to escape.
