"searching sites specific to the demolition trade does not support this meaning of 'pull'. The following Google searches of the two best known controlled demolition sites in October of 2003 did not return any results indicating that pulling and demolition are synonymous.
* site:controlled-demolition.com pull
* site:implosionworld.com pull
Searching Google with the query demolition pull and filtering out sites referring to the Silverstein pull-it remark returns only one result in about 10 pages of results that uses 'pull' to mean demolish: "City staff have contacted the property owner by phone to request that he obtain a demolition permit and pull down and demolish the building""
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:ibTC0dpwYs0J:www.thewolfweb.com/message_to...t=firefox-a
And from implosionworld.com: "There is no such phrase in explo-demo. Most likely he meant "pull out" as in have people evacuate. Conventionally, "pull a building" can mean to pre-burn holes in steel beams near the top floor and affix long cables to heavy machinery, which then backs up and causes the structure to lean off its center of gravity and eventually collapse. But this is only possible with buildings about 6-7 stories or smaller."
Building 7 was 47 stories.
The implosionworld interpretation of Silverstein’s expression was precisely what Silverstein later said he meant. Of course, Silverstein may have been lying, but given that the expression makes little sense as meaning “blow the building”, and since it is not industry slang for blowing a building, implosionworld and Silverstein’s interpretation seems better, especially in light of considerations below.
Some have argued that suggesting pulling fire fighters or fire fighting makes no sense since there wasn’t fire fighting at WTC7. But the reports of no fire fighting at WTC7 don’t usually indicate whether fire fighting was never at WTC7. In general, fire fighters fight fires until told to withdraw. According to the New York Times, fire fighters weren’t told to withdraw until 11:30 a.m.
"By 11:30 a.m., the fire commander in charge of that area, Assistant Chief Frank Fellini, ordered firefighters away from it for safety reasons." - NY Times, November 29, 2001, JAMES GLANZ
To my knowledge, Silverstein never indicated that the conversation he had with the commander was after 11:30. If it was before 11:30, an interpretation where he’s suggesting pulling fire fighting is perfectly consistent with fire fighting or fire fighters being “pulled” by 11:30 a.m. If this is the proper interpretation, perhaps Silverstein should have said, “pull them”, referring to the fire fighters, though the “it” could have been fire fighting in general. Nevertheless, correcting Silverstein’s grammar is pretty weak evidence for the controlled demolition argument, particularly in light of everything else.
Furthermore to remind us again, Silverstein, in the original comment, was describing a conversation he had with a New York City Fire Department commander. Why would he suggest a controlled demolition to a fire department commander when New York City’s fire department doesn’t have demolitions experts who do controlled demolitions of buildings, particularly ones on fire? FDNY does have a unit that deals with explosives, but the explosives in question are fireworks used during events. Fireworks don’t bring down buildings.
Since a fire department commander controls fire fighters, it makes much more sense to suggest to a commander to pull his fire fighters, which commander Fellini did at 11:30 a.m. And pulling fire department personnel from the building for safety purposes, particularly after so many fire fighters had already died, fits the context of the Silverstein comment since Silverstein explicitly refers to “pulling it” in response to loss of life.
Finally, the given context of Silverstein’s discussion puts it after the fire had been burning for some time, since the commander allegedly said that they couldn’t control the fire. However, planned demolitions do not occur on the fly like that. They normally take weeks to plan, and they certainly aren’t set up while a building is on fire, particularly one containing thousands of gallons of diesel fuel. And if you’re going to let a fire burn, why do you need to add explosives? Why not just let the building burn itself out? And why wait for the fire to burn for seven hours before setting off explosives?
Some might argue that the demolition was in fact preplanned. But if that was the case, Silverstein’s discussion with the fire department commander would make no sense. Why would he admit to a fire department commander that explosives had previously been positioned throughout the building, and why would he be telling the fire commander to do a controlled demolition when Silverstein had already planned it?
http://conspiracytheory.t(...)12-ba96-d3ce1aeefa09