The smokestacks that helped power the space race fell on Sunday.
While the eyes of much of the demolition and blasting world were turned towards Cape Town in South Africa for the long-awaited implosion of the Athlone Towers, Controlled Demolition Inc (CDI) was quietly going about its business (well, as quietly as explosive demolition can be) in Florida to fell a pair of Florida Power and Light smokestacks at the world-famous Cape Canaveral.
The stacks and the associated boilers powered the space race. But they also puffed soot and oily residue on cars, pitting paint and raising health concerns among local people. “We’ve been subsidising their profits with our health for years,” said Amy Tidd, a longtime power plant opponent. “It’s all about the money.”
But on Sunday morning, those fears were finally laid to rest as the two red-and-white stacks that towered 121 metres (397 feet) above the nearly half-century-old Cape Canaveral power plant fell in a controlled implosion.
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