Marc Powell
Active Member
Conspiracy theorists often make the claim that "secondary explosions" were reported in the World Trade Center buildings after the plane crashes. In the 2014 David Hooper film, The Anatomy of a Great Deception (viewable in its entirety on YouTube at youtube.com/watch?v=l0Q5eZhCPuc ), Hooper makes the extraordinary (and inaccurate) claim that such "secondary explosions," at random times, are routine in a controlled demolition. As evidence that such explosions had occurred on 9/11, a short video clip is presented at the 28:42 mark that shows dust-covered and bloodied firefighters being interviewed by a news reporter. The reporter asks, "Was that a secondary explosion?," to which a firefighter replies, "Yes it was... yes, definitely a secondary explosion." A still frame from the clip is presented below:
While the interview is authentic, it can be readily proven that the firefighter was mistaken about what he had initially thought was an explosion and that the filmmakers should have known it. The film clip in Hooper's film was taken from CBS Net Dub6 14 which was part of the 2011 NIST Freedom of Information Act release. It is presented below:
Source: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eqj71N61vkmnpla8qB065g-Qb1KPpnBX/view?usp=sharing_eil_dm&ts=611e8737
Immediately before the part of the video cherrypicked by David Hooper, the firefighter explains that, "The whole building just collapsed on us… inside the lobby." Obviously, he was not referring to the lobby of the South Tower because nobody there survived. What he was referring to was the lobby of the Marriott Hotel where first responders had assembled at a staging area.
The firefighter being interviewed was Tyrone Johnson of Ladder 24 Company. His testimony is in the New York Times 9/11 Oral Histories and can be read at:
https://static01.nyt.com/packages/pdf/nyregion/20050812_WTC_GRAPHIC/9110443.PDF
As stated by Firefighter Johnson, he had just started upstairs to perform a search of the hotel building when the South Tower collapsed onto it. The "secondary explosion" he mentioned in his interview on the morning of 9/11 was actually the blast of debris-laden wind that swept through the hotel lobby a few seconds after the building was heavily impacted by falling debris. With all the research that David Hooper and his Technical Director, Richard Gage, performed, one would expect that such major elements of witness testimony would not have gone unnoticed.
Incidentally, the news interview with the three dusty firefighters is often cited by conspiracy theorists as proof that there had been an explosion in "the lobby." Of course, they don't say the lobby in question was in the Marriott Hotel and not one of the twin towers.
While the interview is authentic, it can be readily proven that the firefighter was mistaken about what he had initially thought was an explosion and that the filmmakers should have known it. The film clip in Hooper's film was taken from CBS Net Dub6 14 which was part of the 2011 NIST Freedom of Information Act release. It is presented below:
Source: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eqj71N61vkmnpla8qB065g-Qb1KPpnBX/view?usp=sharing_eil_dm&ts=611e8737
Immediately before the part of the video cherrypicked by David Hooper, the firefighter explains that, "The whole building just collapsed on us… inside the lobby." Obviously, he was not referring to the lobby of the South Tower because nobody there survived. What he was referring to was the lobby of the Marriott Hotel where first responders had assembled at a staging area.
The firefighter being interviewed was Tyrone Johnson of Ladder 24 Company. His testimony is in the New York Times 9/11 Oral Histories and can be read at:
https://static01.nyt.com/packages/pdf/nyregion/20050812_WTC_GRAPHIC/9110443.PDF
As stated by Firefighter Johnson, he had just started upstairs to perform a search of the hotel building when the South Tower collapsed onto it. The "secondary explosion" he mentioned in his interview on the morning of 9/11 was actually the blast of debris-laden wind that swept through the hotel lobby a few seconds after the building was heavily impacted by falling debris. With all the research that David Hooper and his Technical Director, Richard Gage, performed, one would expect that such major elements of witness testimony would not have gone unnoticed.
Incidentally, the news interview with the three dusty firefighters is often cited by conspiracy theorists as proof that there had been an explosion in "the lobby." Of course, they don't say the lobby in question was in the Marriott Hotel and not one of the twin towers.
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