Modeling Pre-Evacuation Delay by Occupants in World Trade Center Towers 1 and 2 on September 11, 2001

Published

May 29, 2009

Author(s)

Erica D. Kuligowski, Dennis S. Mileti

Abstract

On September 11, 2001, two airplanes hit WTC 1 and 2 sixteen minutes apart, which forced one of the largest evacuations from high-rise buildings in U.S. history. By understanding human behavior during evacuation from the Towers, improvements can be made to evacuation education, training, and procedures for high-rise buildings across the world. Path analysis is used to analyze telephone data obtained from WTC survivors to empirically determine if the theories from community evacuation hold true for building fires. Results show that community evacuation theories do hold true for building fires; specifically in WTC 1 and 2. In general, longer evacuation times were predicted by witnessing a higher environmental cues, being on a lower floor in the building, obtaining more information, viewing the event as more serious (higher risk), seeking additional information, and performing a higher number of pre-evacuation actions.

Citation

Fire Safety Journal

Volume

44

Issue

4

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2008.10.001

Keywords

delay, evacuation, high-rise building, modeling, pre-evacuation, World Trade Center

Citation

Kuligowski, E. and Mileti, D. (2009), Modeling Pre-Evacuation Delay by Occupants in World Trade Center Towers 1 and 2 on September 11, 2001, Fire Safety Journal, [online], https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2008.10.001 (Accessed April 26, 2024)