Blast,
I agree/disagree with the "causing a large loss of life"

In the first tower hit, it didn't make any difference. It really came down to - if you were below the impact, you lived, if you weren't, you died - plain and simple (well, give or take about 20-30 people)

Now, the South Tower was another story - IF you started to evacuate when the NORTH tower was hit, it made a difference. There was about 2000 people at/above what eventually became the impact point of the South Tower - 1400 of those people bugged out - despite being told to stay (they were tryng to get the North Tower cleared first) - about 600 people stayed.

You know the story there

You really have to ask the question - NOT given 20/20 hindsight, and realizing that for all intented, the 2 towers were two totally different buildings, would YOU have bugged out of the south tower because the north tower "had a fire". Remember, you have NO details. How quickly would you have bugged out? Would you have used the elevators? (remember, there is NO problem in your building). Would you have stopped to grab your bag/go to the bathroom, etc? (remember, the 2 buildings were for all intents 1/2-1 block from each other)

IF you decieed to use the stairs, let's say you were on floor 98 - would you have made these decisions fast enough to get down below the 78th floor? You had 16.5 minutes from the time the first building was hit! Interestingly, the answer was to ignore the "stay here, this building is safe" and ignore the "don't take the elevators in an emergency" - and get to the elevator bank and down - also remember that you were going to have to change elevators on the 78th floor - go from the local, to the express. As it was, about 200 people died in the elevators trying to get out of a building, many in the first few seconds - people who were getting out (the blast came all the way down the elevator shaftes at impact - there is footage - the doors in the lobby beltched flame at impact)