Hundreds of Hamilton residents heard the loud noise coming from the bayfront this morning and some may have felt their house shake as well. A blast furnace was demolished at a slate facility that used to be owned by Stelco.
There are reports of residents hearing the blast in the Waterdown area and on the Hamilton Mountain near Upper James and Mohawk.
In a statement the demolition company, Priestly Demolition says,
“The E-furnace at Stelco was demolished using a blast (explosion) method. The explosion was meant to cut through the thick steel and that’s why it made such a huge noise. This method was chosen because the structure was too tall and too heavy for any other method to be used without putting lives of the workers at risk.”
Priestly Demolition says they had been planning to take down the furnace at the former Stelco property for the past year with many different groups including Slate, Stelco’s security, and environmental staff.
Some residents and Environment Hamilton are worried about the environmental impacts and what gets released into the air after a demolition like this.
Environment Hamilton was told about the scheduled explosion Tuesday evening but many residents didn’t know about it until this morning. Environment Hamilton says that’s not enough time as demolitions like this can kick up particulate matter into the air.
“Especially when it comes to leftover dust from steel making, we know that known carcinogens are going to be found in that dust,” Ian Borsuk of Environment Hamilton said.
Priestly Demolition says the dust control crew utilized multiple water trucks and misters to ensure that the dust was controlled and they don’t anticipate any environmental impact.
CHCH News reached out to Slate but has yet to hear back.
