Martin Tower implosion: ‘It couldn’t go any better,' official says

Bringing down a building with 16,00 tons of structural steel and 6,500 cubic yards of concrete in 14 seconds makes quite a mess, but one Bethlehem official said everything was “perfect.”“Coming down just like it was supposed to, and dust being controlled right now, and cleanup taking place, it couldn’t go any better for the city of Bethlehem,” said Bob Novatnack, emergency management coordinator for the city of Bethlehem at a news briefing two hours after the implosion of Martin Tower.The implosion produced a series of bangs within a half-second of each other and then a boom sounding, as the demolition contractor predicted, like a strong thunderstorm.Gravity then dropped the Valley’s tallest building slightly southeast of its cruciform footprint.“A textbook implosion,” said Duane Wagner, a representative of site owners Lewis Ronca and Norton Herrick.Novotnack said the implosion of the venerable tower fell into the footprint of the 47-year-old building as planned and no property damage occurred. He added that the major roadways were open and all roads should be open this morning.The demolition was delayed a few minutes because a helicopter was flying near the exclusion zone and some people were crowding yards too close to the exclusion zone. Novotnack said it was a minor delay and once the people were cleared, the implosion went off without a hitch.Novotnack said officials don’t expect any air quality problems to linger. He said it’s too early to tell, but the dust was expected from the concrete of the building, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Source: Morningcall