I will respectfully disagree with ClintonHammond on this. There were other building collapses of similar structures--no not as tall, but big--and the fire service has been aware for years that collapse kills lotsa firefighters. It was not necessary to send so many into the Towers. There is no question there would have been loss of life, but 300 is 260 too many, IMO. All that could be done, really, was evacuation. I don't think NYC has pumpers that could supply sufficent water that high up, and the loss of pump power is about 10 kPa per meter of altitude. Even standpipes have to be measured from the ground up. It would have taken a gang of 65 mm hose lines to put enough water with foam on the fire to stop it. A single foam proportioner requires 1400 kPa to operate. Add a friction loss of 100 kPa per 30 meters of 65 mm line and the height the water/foam had to be pumped and nozzle loss--nope, I don't see how.