Concerns raised over this weekend’s New Orleans blast.
Here at Demolition News Towers, the lead-in to an implosion follows a tried and tested path of emails and phone calls. Local people generally want to know if a blast will be safe, when it will take place, and whether or not it will be streamed online so they can watch it without having to brave the elements. Fellow industry professionals, on the other hand, want to know who won the contract and how much they won it for.
The run-in to the implosion of the Grand Palace Hotel in New Orleans has been different, however. Indeed, the numerous emails and calls we have received – regardless of whether they’re from industry insiders or Joe Public – have all shared the same tone of concern.
To a degree, that concern is understandable. Through no fault of the chosen blasting company, the contract has been on and off more times than a stripper’s spangly bra. That alone has been enough to rattle locals.
But the greatest degree of concern has come since the structure was hit by a two alarm fire a few weeks ago. Despite widespread rumours suggesting that the blast would be delayed, city officials are apparently determined to proceed on 22 July, leading to speculation that the work is being hurried and that structural damage caused by the fire has not been taken into account. These views have been given more credibility by threats of immediate arrest for trespassing in the exclusion zone and by claims that residents in the nearby Iberville Housing Development have been kept “in the dark” about evacuation plans for the day.
Concerns have also been raised over the proximity of the Grand Palace Hotel to the I-10 highway which passes just a few metres from the structure’s nominal drop zone. Few would question the ability of an experienced blaster to kick a building away from obstacles; it’s done all the time. But what if the fire has weakened certain parts of the structure, causing it to behave in an unexpected and uncontrolled manner?
In many ways, explosive demolition is like air travel – Although it goes on all the time without a hitch, we only remember the ones that go wrong. Although it has been largely superseded by mechanical methods, explosive demolition still takes place regularly across the world, and even those that do go awry generally do little more than break a few nearby windows or dump rubble on an adjacent road.
When the dust settles on Sunday, the chances are that blasters and city officials will be patting each other on the back, celebrating a job well done while previously concerned locals are rushing to be the first to put their video of the event on YouTube.
But, like the rest of the world, we will be watching intently.
