On 9/11/01 I watched the events unfold live on The Today show, and thought an air drop of water like for forest fires could help?
What would a response time be for an Emergency Air Drop in that area, who would be most capable to first respond with an air drop? was there time, was liability for water damage a factor.
Just curious. As I watched, I kept thinking why not water?

The problem with dropping water like what you suggest is that your adding a lot of weight in short bursts. Another thing is that unless it turned to steam right away then the only real place it can drain would have been the staircases. People were using those to evacuate. To use the powder kind to suppress the fire would also take the oxygen out of the air so any one left behind would have suffocated. It's a tough call any way you look at it.

And of course unless the roof fell, most would just run off, as it entered building, little would get to each floor. And it often spreads water over larger area then I suspect the building area.

I just always wondered?

Aircraft capable of dropping water are generally located near heavily forested areas. I think the nearest area to qualify would be the Adirondacks. And three would not have been time to deploy.

Also such aircraft are usually not designed to drop water as pin point as necessary. The towers did not have a large footprint. Area wise they were quite small.

Finally, the towers were equipped with fire suppression systems that just didn't have a chance.

I also have to wonder about the possibility of adding water to a jet fuel fire. I would assume there would be a chance it would spread like if you throw water on a gas fire.

A human friendly fire retardant?

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Originally Posted by Stratmando

A human friendly fire retardant?

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That would be gel. But on that scale you wouldn't be able to find enough of it.

I've never heard of anyone attempting an air drop of water onto a structural fire. Putting aside the issue of its effectiveness (as califdadof3 and Fr_Chuck pointed out), dropping tons of water in an area with thousands of people would most likely cause significant bodily harm - and possibly death - to many people. This doesn't seem like an approach that would be advisable in an urban environment.

I agree that it could cause significant bodily harm. If it had been used, and the water actually cooled the fire somehow, and the buildings didn't fall, the people killed by the fire suppressing would likely have Family suing them Fire Rescue.

We do know what happens when Nothing is done.