An out-of-commission stack at Cleveland-Cliffs in Middletown, Ohio, was demolished the morning of March 1, reports the Journal-News.
The demolition, which was set for 9 a.m., was delayed about 30 minutes and could be felt “as far away as West Chester,” according to nearby residents.
Beth Hendricks, principal at the nearby Amanda Elementary School, told the Journal-News she heard a “boom,” but the building didn’t shake and there were “no issues.”
Neil Douglas, president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local Lodge 1943, called the demolition “one small piece” to an ongoing clean-up the company is performing inside the mill, adding that Cleveland-Cliffs is “sprucing up the place.”
The recent stack felling in Ohio follows a similar demolition by Cleveland-Cliffs in Kentucky last month. On Feb. 8, the company demolished a large furnaced structure at the former AK Steel blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace (BOF) site near Ashland.
As previously reported by Construction & Demolition Recycling, some parts of the mill had been idle since 2015, and AK Steel made the decision to fully close the melt shop portion of the mill in early 2019. That decision was not reversed when Cleveland-based Cleveland-Cliffs acquired AK Steel later that year.
Watch a video of the implosion below, courtesy of WLWT:
