Springdale smokestacks come down but take down power lines; some home damage reported

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Cleanup and damage assessment crews are poring over the area around the Cheswick Generating Station in Springdale and Cheswick after the plant's smokestacks were imploded shortly after 8 a.m. Friday, coming down with a crash, a huge cloud of dust and taking down some utility poles along Pittsburgh Street in Springdale.

The air burst when the 750-foot stack fell damaged some power poles and lines on Pittsburgh Street. Residents of portions of Springdale, Cheswick and Harmar were without electric service immediately after the demolition, though many were reporting their power was back on less than an hour after it went out.

Allegheny Valley emergency management coordinator Bruno Moretti said the smokestacks landed where they were intended to land, at a cleared site north of the power plant. An air burst from the implosion caused some utility poles and power lines along Pittsburgh Street to come down, he said.

"That force pushed down some trees along Pittsburgh … and along power lines," said Scott Reschly, Charah Solutions’ vice president of operations.

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No injuries were reported, Moretti said. There was some damage to properties, mostly across the plant and Pittsburgh Street. He did not immediately have a damage estimate.

"It's being assessed and taken care of as they get to it," he said.

Reschly said the company was appreciative of everyone — including the power companies, emergency management crews, law enforcement and the community — for their cooperation during the implosion.

"Safety is No. 1. We’re happy to say that everyone's safe," Reschly said.

Like Moretti, Reschly said the implosion was on time, and the stacks landed where they were expected to land. He noted that when the taller stack hit the ground, the burst of air pushed along and damaged trees and power lines along the main road.

Contractors can't plan the exact level of force from air bursts until they actually happen, he said.

He said Friday afternoon that crews continued their post-blast assessment of nearby properties. People who believe they were impacted can reach out to Charah Solutions by completing a contact form on the company's website at charah.com.

"We’re working on (cleaning) that up and making sure we’re doing right by the neighbors that were impacted," Reschly said.

County officials reported just before 4 p.m. Friday that all power was restored in the area, and crews were working on a final cleanup.

Pittsburgh Street reopened just after 5 p.m., as had been planned.

Marti Blake said she has lived at 301 Pittsburgh St., at the corner of Washington Street and directly across from the plant, since 1990. She said walls inside her house were cracked from the blast and two windows facing Pittsburgh Street were broken. Something came through her living room window and punched a hole in the wall across the room.

"I don't know what it was. You can't see it," she said. "It went down in between the walls."

To prepare, Blake said she was told more than a week ago to take valuables away from the windows, which she did. She and her three dogs went to the top of the hill to watch the implosion from the safety of that vantage point.

Blake said she has been told the damage to her home will be taken care of. Despite the damage, she was expecting to stay in her home.

"I do have to say I’m happy. I am thrilled. It's the best day of my life that those stacks are gone. Because I lived here a long time and it's been filthy, noisy, filthy, whatever you call it," she said. "This is the price we’re paying for that. But, if they will take care of it, I’m OK with that."

Thick dust covers homes, cars, vegetation, leaves, everything across Pittsburgh Street from the power plant. Shawn Moore says two windows were blown out on his Washington Street house. pic.twitter.com/DWFKKIaRmP

— Brian Rittmeyer (@BCRittmeyer) June 2, 2023

West Penn Power's website initially reported 1,500 customers were without power, but that number was down to fewer than 10 by 11 a.m.

New electrical poles were seen arriving around 10 a.m.

A closer look at damage from the stacks implosion in Springdale. Police keeping spectators away. pic.twitter.com/R0WEiXfTkN

— Brian Rittmeyer (@BCRittmeyer) June 2, 2023

Crews from Controlled Demolition Inc. imploded the two chimneys at the former coal-fired power generation plant. CDI, property owner Cheswick Plant Environmental Redevelopment Group and general contractor Grant Mackay Co. worked together to bring the smokestacks down.

Friends Bob Landis and Howard Covey ate their breakfast Friday morning in Landis’ truck parked along Oak Street in Cheswick to watch the stacks fall.

Landis worked on the plant when it opened in 1970 — in total, working there more than 40 years before his retirement.

"This is going to be something, when those things hit the ground," Landis said.

He also recalled a breathtaking experience one time when he had to go to the top of the older tower.

Both from Lower Burrell, they said they were excited to watch the implosion.

"When that thing hits the ground, it's going to shake this whole Earth," Landis said.

Covey recalled being a teenager and help was wanted to repaint the smokestacks.

It was "really great money," and he applied and was accepted, but needed his father's signature to get to work.

"I told my dad and about it; he says … no, you’re not going there," Covey said.

Local law enforcement agencies closed nearby roads to traffic early Friday. Authorities also set up an "exclusion zone" around the site to prevent people from getting too close.

On several social media sites, residents as far away as Lower Burrell and West Deer reported they heard the blast from the explosives and felt the ground tremble when the smokestacks fell.

Cheswick native Russell Gruchalak donned an Evel Knievel-inspired motorcycle helmet and sat in a lounge chair in his front yard along Duquesne Avenue to watch the smokestacks fall.

"We’re here to have a blast," joked Gruchalak, 68.

After the implosion, Gruchalak fled quickly with dozens of other spectators into their respective residences, as a dark cloud of ash and debris descended upon the neighborhood.

Vehicles were quickly coated with ashen dust, and many spectators donned masks.

"I watched it get built and now I watched it go," Gruchalak said. "We had a great day for it."

Over on Murrayhill Avenue in Cheswick, about 10 people gathered for the implosion.

"I was a teenager and when they were building it. I always remember it," said Brenda Park of Harwick. "It's really surreal. It's such a historical thing that's been here 50 years. I don't think it should be coming down."

Casey Welsby didn't hear about the impending implosion until her sister told her about it a few days ago.

Welsby conveniently had the day off from work Friday, so she organized an impromptu watch party.

"Driving home from grandma's house or camp, the stacks were the first thing we would see, and we knew we were almost home," Welsby said. "But we also called it ‘the awful tower’ because it would shoot out soot."

Welsby, 33, baked biscuits and served coffee for her sister and brother as they mingled in Casey's front yard along Pittsburgh Street.

"I’m sad," Welsby said. "I went to the track last night to just go see it one last time. It's gross and reminds one of pollution and stuff.

"But when I was little, it meant home to me. I also thought it was a cloud machine because I thought clouds came from there."

The implosion is keeping David Fox away from his work on a house so he's waiting to watch the show. "I think it's going to be fast. I think it's going to be pretty dusty." pic.twitter.com/yR8eC9FPg4

— Brian Rittmeyer (@BCRittmeyer) June 2, 2023

Dee Marsh was getting ready to step outside her South Duquesne Avenue home in Cheswick to take a picture of the implosion, but the stacks were already on their way down by the time she got outside, she said.

Nevertheless, she believed the implosion went "fairly well."

"I had everything covered," she said, "but there was no dust."

She said the implosion sounded like heavy thunder. At 11:30, her power was still out, she said.

On North Duquesne Avenue, Jeff and Theresa Jamison said they don't have much cleanup, either.

Theresa said the implosion was quick, on time and impressive, but she was disappointed that the tower knocked over power lines.

"It looked like a bomb went off (on Pittsburgh Street)," Jeff said.

John Shanty of Cheswick spent his early afternoon Friday using a leaf blower to get dust from the implosion off of his porch, car and yard.

The dust covered everything, he said.

He was able to look out his Murrayhill Avenue home's window to watch the implosion.

"It was louder than I thought," he said.

He said the implosion shook his house, and his power went out briefly.

Officials said a "small amount of explosives" were used to fell the chimneys into a cleared, old coal yard north of the property, though it appears a portion of the taller stack hit trees that fell outside the coal yard, causing the power line damage.

Cheswick native Brenda Park, 64, points to the smokestacks Friday along Murray Hill Avenue. Park was a teen when construction was completed on the stacks. "I watched them build it and now I’ll watch them demolish it. It's weird," Park said. ⁦@TribLIVE⁩ ⁦@VNDNews⁩ pic.twitter.com/XStNw0Qw3c

— Joyce Hanz (@hanz_joyce) June 2, 2023

All asbestos was cleared from the stacks, and officials advised residents near the site to turn off exterior fans, and close air intakes, windows, doors or other outside openings. Officials said they are not expecting a big dust event from the implosion.

CDI and Grant Mackay Co. are assessing if any changes have occurred in the surrounding area through a predemolition photographic survey.

The Cheswick Generating Station ceased operations in April 2022 and was Allegheny County's last coal-fired electricity generating plant. Charah Solutions, based in Louisville, Ky., bought the shuttered power plant from then-owner GenOn Holdings. GenOn Holdings in June 2021 announced it was closing the plant.

What's to replace the plant is yet to be determined. Charah Solutions has stated it would potentially use the 56-acre property for renewable energy and battery storage options, but the Springdale Planning Commission in May recommended the property be rezoned for residential use.

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