While it's easy to assume from reading magazine headlines and watching TV documentaries that all implosion projects go exactly as planned, the truth is, they don't. Sooner or later every blasting firm experiences an unanticipated problem, and Protec's Earl Gardner was to be faced with that fact while working in the remote Canadian outpost of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia the following afternoon.

Gardner knew he had drawn Protec's "short straw" right from the outset. Not only was this the most geographically remote blasting project of the five-event weekend, but the demolition of a large blast furnace along with seven furnace stoves at the Sydney Steel Works was his team's second visit to the site, and he took stock in the lessons learned during a five-smokestack blast that occurred there several months earlier.

It was during this previous trip that structural inspectors discovered local residents harbored deep resentment towards the steel mill and the perceived health problems that accompanied its operation. It quickly became obvious that no activity - including the destruction of some of the offending structures - would be received well, and that the pre-blast inspection of nearby homes would meet with considerable resistance. As Gardner later observed, "In my experience, working near contaminated sites poses one of the most difficult types of public relations challenges our team can face… right up there alongside interacting with historical preservationists before a deteriorating local landmark is imploded. In many cases, these folks are pretty wound up long before we arrive… I once had people throwing D-cell batteries at me and my vehicle before I could even step out and introduce myself."

However, to the chagrin of project officials, the two remaining stoves leaned slightly off-center and remained upright, stubbornly refusing to budge any further. At first, many on the site wondered; had Kelly somehow miscalculated the strength of the steel or the design of the stoves?

Upon inspecting the base of each structure in detail, Kelly quickly discovered the cause of the failure. The thick interior brick lining of each stove had apparently become so deteriorated over many years of exposure to intense heat and wear, it had completely collapsed upon initial detonation. The tumbling bricks then quickly filled the open wedge created at the base of each stove before the outer steel shells were able to gain any vertical momentum, preventing them from falling over. They were literally stuck in a standing position.

As Kelly later explained, "The interior lining just disintegrated the moment I pushed the detonator, and there was obviously no adhesion whatsoever remaining between the brick and steel structures. That tells you something about how dangerous a job this would have been for laborers using hand tools and conventional demolition equipment."

After completing their thorough inspection of each upright stove, both Eric Kelly and Murray Demolition President, Shawn Murray, arrived at the same conclusion; the explosives had been completely successful at their goal of severing the bases and creating wedges in each structure, and all that was needed now was a "push" from a long-reach excavator.