Beyond First Responders: The Unsung Work of Engineers at Ground Zero

What is the responsibility of an engineer when faced with unimaginable devastation? 

Columbia Engineering held a special screening Feb. 17 of “Engineers at Ground Zero,” a documentary examining the crucial role structural engineers played following the 9/11 attacks.

The event, held in Davis Auditorium and hosted by the Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics (CEEM), included a Q&A session with alumnus James Feuerborn ‘93CC, BS’93, MS’94, one of the engineers present at Ground Zero and featured in the film. The conversation was led by Raimondo Betti, professor of civil engineering and engineering mechanics at Columbia, who also taught Feuerborn while he was a student at the School. The documentary features firsthand accounts and examines how 9/11 has influenced building design and emergency response to keep the public safe. 

After completing his master’s in engineering mechanics in 1994, Feuerborn joined Leslie E. Robertson Associates as a structural engineer until 1999. Since 2000, he has worked at the global engineering consulting firm Thornton Tomasetti, where he currently serves as a managing principal. 

We sat down with Feuerborn to hear firsthand about his experiences at the site and how the 9/11 tragedy shaped his career as a structural engineer.

What was your initial reaction when you arrived at Ground Zero?

When I went down to the site after September 11, I just felt utter awe at two buildings of this size coming down–seeing the destruction and pile of debris that was down there, and knowing that there was a significant loss of human life at the site and the surrounding neighborhoods.

How did your experience at Ground Zero impact you personally and professionally in the years that followed?

In terms of impacting my life personally, I lost quite a few friends on that day. One former employee from Leslie E. Robertson was actually killed during the attacks of 9/11, plus a lot of the workers from the Port Authority who we worked with at the World Trade Center. I had quite a few friends who worked for various companies in the towers who lost their lives on 9/11 as well.

Professionally, it really changed my career trajectory. I had worked in the design end of structural engineering up until that point. For 10 months I was down at Ground Zero working six days a week, and it really moved my career in structural engineering from a design aspect to a forensic engineering standpoint, investigating causes of building collapses, fires, structural issues in buildings, and so forth. 

I still work in this area today, conducting forensic investigations on all sorts of buildings and projects around the country and around the world. 

What did structural engineers learn from 9/11? 

Structural engineers after 9/11 learned quite a few things. 

First, when designing new structures, we have learned to look more closely at progressive collapse. There were many revisions in codes, both international and around the U.S. 

Examples such as having more hardened fireproofing, meaning the fireproofing adherence to the structural steel. In terms of egress, it is important to make sure stairs are separated on extremely tall structures above a certain height. 

Better communication systems were also set within high-rise buildings–training of personnel and occupants within these buildings for evacuations is vital. This ensures there would be an orderly, expeditious evacuation of the structure if something were to occur. Also, including a service elevator dedicated to fire personnel on structures above a certain height is now a requirement. 

These are just examples of probably 20 to 30 different modifications and recommendations that were made for engineers and architects when designing high-rise structures following 9/11.

What do you hope viewers will walk away knowing and understanding after watching this film? 

I hope that people who watch this film get an understanding of what structural engineers did down at the site. There are a lot of documentaries and stories that describe the view of first responders, firefighters, and victims, what they did and how they helped that day. 

What I hope people learn from this is that there were structural engineers and architects at Ground Zero who assisted first responders in stabilizing structures, recovering victims, as well as finding survivors. 

Lead Photo Caption: Alumnus James Feuerborn during a talk at the Feb. 17 film screening of “Engineers at Ground Zero”

Lead Photo Credit: Timothy Lee