Controlled Demolition Inc. (CDI), Phoenix, Maryland, working for main demolition contractor Ontario Specialty Contracting Inc. (OSC) of Buffalo, New York, felled a trio of stacks at the Tonawanda Coke Plant in Tonawanda, New York, via implosion on June 5.
According to the U.S. EPA, the Tonawanda Coke Corporation (TCC) operated a coke manufacturing facility at the site beginning in 1978, but the property had been used before that for coke manufacturing since 1917. In October 2018, TCC shut down the facility amid “years of controversy, environmental disaster and countless community meetings,” 2WGRZ reports.
OCS crews have been remediating the site since October 2019. Since the plant was shut down in 2018, OCS says more than 4,000 tons of waste, asbestos and other chemicals have been removed from the site.
Due to the degradation of the remaining stacks, implosion was the only option.
According to CDI, it felled one 230-foot reinforced concrete coke battery chimney, one 270-foot reinforced concrete boiler house chimney, and one 275-foot radial brick boiler house chimney.
The structures came down safely and without incident, CDI reports.
Watch video of the demolition below, courtesy of CDI:
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