I am uneasy about reading articles that appear in various newspapers on the collapse of the World Trade Centers twin towers. As your story, "Engineers Seek Corrections," notes, expert engineers promulgate their own theories on the causes, and newspapers that are hungry for some "great" and preferably "scandalous" revelations are all too ready outlets (ENR 11/11 p. 11).
I was interviewed [by a newspaper] on the day of the collapse and have had only the benefit of the pictures seen on television. My opinion was, and still is, that first, the impact knocked off all the fireproofing material from the structure. Then, the enormous fire softened up the columns to the point where their load-carrying capacity was fatally compromised.