In the 2002 PBS special America Rebuilds, Silverstein said: “I remember getting a call from the, er, fire department commander, telling me that they were not sure they were gonna be able to contain the fire, and I said, ‘We’ve had such terrible loss of life, maybe the smartest thing to do is pull it.’ And they made that decision to pull and we watched the building collapse.” [1]
Theorists read “pull it” as demolition slang. In a September 2005 statement, his spokesman Dara McQuillan said the fire commander had told Silverstein firefighters were inside trying to contain the fires, that Silverstein said the most important thing was their safety, “including, if necessary, to have them withdraw,” and that later the commander ordered them out. [1]
Daniel Nigro, who took command of the fire department that day, told the BBC that the owner had no say: “When we are in charge of a building, we are in charge and the decision will be the fire chiefs and his alone.” [3]
Even taken the other way, the remark does not fit a demolition: preparing a 47-story building takes weeks, and NIST found no blast. [2]
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