SPRINGDALE, Pa. — The planned, long-awaited demolition of the boiler house at the former Cheswick Power Station in Springdale did not go as planned Sunday morning.
The plan was to bring the entire 13-story boiler house down in one swoop but part of the last building at the old power plant is still standing.
SEE PHOTOS FROM THE DEMOLITION
The site has caused years of headaches for neighbors.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Smokestacks at former Cheswick Power Plant site demolished in planned implosion
PHOTOS >>> Damage in Springdale following power plant site implosion
“I wish it would all come down and I can be done with this but what are you going to say?” said Ken Wenzel of Springdale.
Wenzel lives on Grant Street a couple of houses away from the building. He watched as a massive amount of dust filled the neighborhood within seconds.
“All I heard was a big boom outside and I went out and saw a big cloud of dust and that’s about it,” Wenzel said.
When the coal dust settled and the shelter-in-place was lifted, the property owner Charah and its president Scott Reschly apologized for the disruption and inconvenience.
“We’re going to spend the next week cleaning out some of the debris so that we have a good landing zone to bring down the last 30%,” said Reschly, the president of Charah Environmental Redevelopment Group (CPERG).
Only 70% of the boiler house collapsed around 9:30 a.m., which Reschly said is not common.
B&B Wrecking, the demolition company, blames the failed attempt on problems with the cables tied around beams to pull the building down.
“It’s not what we had planned on 100%,” said B&B Wrecking President Brian Baumann. “Unfortunately, some of the cables didn’t hold up like we’d hoped. But again, nobody was hurt and that to me is the most important thing.”
No explosives were used in Sunday’s demolition but it’s like deja vu for some neighbors after the botched implosion of the two smokestacks nearly two years ago in June 2023. During that one, toxic dust and parts of the power plant went flying into yards and windows.
“It broke their fence and messed up their house on the other side of Pittsburgh Street,” Wenzel said.
Around 6 p.m. Sunday, Channel 11 crews saw some metal pieces on the side of the boiler house fall off onto the ground. The demolition contractor, however, said earlier the building is stable.
“The building that’s still standing is stable,” Baumann said. “The actual structure and anything that’s metal, if it does become loose, typically it’s going to come straight down.”
The rest of the building is scheduled to be pulled down this Saturday, March 8 around 9:30 a.m. or 10 a.m. The end of Porter Street will be blocked off until then. Part of Pittsburgh Street and Freeport Road around the demolition site will be closed on Saturday.
Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
©2025 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/XCUXZC2XYZHCRGNNGKFEX6U3LQ.png)
