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Blast
Day
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town of Pembroke awoke on blast day to the same windswept rainy
conditions as any other day, and throughout the morning, townspeople
and plant employees gradually gathered in an open field about
one mile from the blast zone. At precisely 9:00am, the 350-foot
stack was detonated. |
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Clockwise
from top -
initial detonation, stack begins its descent, debris
striking containers
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structure fell exactly as planned, dropping in a straight
line between the tank farm and generating station. As it
impacted with the ground, debris shot towards the stacked
containers, only to bounce back harmlessly into the drop
zone. Phase-1 of the project had gone well. |
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Then
came the moment of truth. At 9:02am, all in attendance held
their breath as the 725-foot concrete stack was detonated.
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As
the dust gracefully swept away to the east, a narrow
200-foot-long debris pile offered convincing testament
to the project's overwhelming success. An independent
analysis of adjacent exposures performed by Protec Documentation
Services found that all critical structures and environmental
concerns remained completely unharmed.
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-
Slaying Goliath -
As the CDG team inspects
debris (lower left), the stacks's upper
steel collar rests just 20 feet north
of its base (center right)
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far as visual spectacles go, the industry had seen far more dynamic-looking
blasts. However in an age when the development of truly innovative
methods for demolishing structures are few and far between, the
blast team at Controlled Demolition Group had successfully 'pushed
the envelope' in creating a proven method for stack demolition
in tight quarters. |
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