Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

No.

Fire was the primary cause of the collapse of World Trade Center Building 7 in New York City, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Fires were caused by debris from one of the center’s Twin Towers, according to NIST, a federal agency that investigates building failures.

The towers were struck by airplanes as part of a terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001.

More than 200 people, including scientists and engineers outside of NIST, produced the 2008 NIST report on the center attacks.

The consensus among them and other investigators was fire was the primary cause of the Building 7 collapse, international engineering academics wrote in 2020.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, suggested April 21 that the 47-story building was felled by a “controlled demolition” and that the government has covered up something. He cited a film that raised the demolition conspiracy theory.

NIST said it found no evidence of a blast.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• National Institute of Standards and Technology: FAQs – NIST WTC 7 Investigation
• National September 11 Memorial & Museum: 9/11 FAQs
• U.S. Commerce Department: 20 Years Later: NIST's World Trade Center Investigation and Its Legacy
• SiF 2020 – The 11th International Conference on Structures in Fire: The Collapse of World Trade Center 7: Revisited
• Benny Johnson: Ron Johnson interview (1:07:20)
• Fire Fighters for 9-11 Truth: Calling Out Bravo-7, 2020 Edition

Was a World Trade Center building destroyed on 9/11 by ‘controlled demolition’? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.