THE BUILDING DEPARTMENT SAID THE WALLS WERE OK, BUT…
The IC, Assistant Chief Harry Norum of the City of New York (NY) Fire Department (FDNY), however, did not trust the walls, built with sand-lime mortar 126 years ago. The building had retrofitted bracing "stars" to the exterior, indicating walls that were tied to floors because of their instability, and they had been battered by tower ladder streams. He maintained the collapse zone. The walls did collapse. No one was injured.