Brick by brick, chimney being demolished

Residents turn out to see landmark come down

By Owen Boss

GARDNER — Despite rainy weather, residents gathered on Lake Street Monday to witness the first day of demolition of the 190-foot Heywood-Wakefield chimney, which is expected to take one to two weeks. Some residents expressed disappointment with losing what they referred to as a “historical landmark,” while the Moschetti and Sons demolition team, suspended by a crane, could be heard using an air hammer to remove bricks from across the city. Among the residents who showed up to witness the demolition was Cliff Cormier, who said he was upset that the chimney was coming down. “I think that this is shameful,” said Mr. Cormier. “You can see it from Templeton. I think the government should have been involved because it was historical, and I want to know why something wasn’t done before it started. We should’ve done something long before a month before they were going to tear it down.” Also disturbed by the removal of the chimney was Connie Gikis, who lives in the Heywood-Wakefield building adjacent to the demolition site. “I don’t want it to go,” said Ms. Gikis. “It’s a landmark and I love it. They should set up a memorial or something out there after it is gone.” Although residents held out hope, the demolition process had already begun late last week, when the parking lot that had surrounded the structure was cleared out and fenced off. Representative to the owner, Sean Higgins said several drivers in adjacent lots still hadn’t yet moved their vehicles. “We are still getting a couple of reluctant car owners to move their cars,” said Mr. Higgins. “We did the majority of the fencing last Thursday to keep people out of this lot.” The chimney itself has been surrounded with several tons of sand to ensure that bricks falling from atop the structure will not shatter the concrete when they hit the ground. Before sending any crewmen up to the top of the chimney, Mr. Higgins said the Astrocrane that was subcontracted had to do several test runs to be sure that the suspended basket could handle the weight. “We did a test run with a thousand pounds in that thing to make sure it is behaving,” said Mr. Higgins. “And they will be doing another one with the guys in there and they will bring up air hammers and start taking it down.” Although the project was originally expected to take one to two weeks, Mr. Higgins said the demolition is weather-permitting and contractors must keep their own safety in mind. “Weather can be a problem for us if the rain gets really bad or if winds pick up,” said Mr. Higgins. “Also we have to watch for thunder and lighting, because that would be a major concern.” Fire Chief Ronald Therrien showed up to witness the first day of demolition because he said he had concerns regarding how safe the process would be. “The project was of concern to me because I wasn’t given any foreknowledge of exactly how they were going to do it,” said Chief Therrien. “In the past when the chimney has been repaired they literally attached ladders to the outside of the structure and put some scaffolding at the top and I was unsure as to why they hadn’t done that this time.” Although he said he felt better about the overall safety of the project after speaking with contractors, Chief Therrien said his major concern was for potentially stranded workers, because he feared the Fire Department would be able to do little to get them down. “My concern was if a worker gets in trouble up there, how am I going to get him down?” said Chief Therrien. “I wanted to know if they had any contingency plans for that. When I was there this morning and I saw the crane and they explained to me how the procedure was going to go, I was very much relieved.” According to Mr. Higgins, the first several days of demolition will be done using the crane and basket, but after the tower is about half gone, the process will change to incorporate other equipment. “What they are doing right now is basically take it apart brick by brick, throw most of it down the middle of the chimney and some of it on the outside,” said Mr. Higgins. “When they get it down to a spot that is more or less halfway done, they will be able to get at it with a clamshell (construction machine).” oboss@thegardnernews.com

Appeared on Page 1 on 8/12/2008 (Vol. 206 No. 190)