TONAWANDA, N.Y. — The Tonawanda Coke smokestacks are finally gone and now some are rejoicing.
Town of Tonawanda Supervisor Joe Emminger says it's a beautiful day because after more than a century, the landscape is changing for the better.
The smokestacks were imploded using 180 pounds of dynamite. An alarm was set off two minutes prior to the demolition and another one minute before.
The stacks went down in under 10 seconds — two of them falling quicker than the last one. High pressure water was then sprayed to minimize dust.
A viewer and neighbor of the area reached out to 2 On Your Side's Danielle Church on Twitter mentioning she thought it sounded like thunder.
Jackie James is the executive director of Citizen Science Community Resources. She says this is a huge day for the community because of all the pollutants which have come from this site.
"They all thought we were crazy in the beginning but we knew what we were doing and we had hope," James said. "That's what these stacks represent and the demolition today [Saturday]. It represents a new beginning. When the sun sets on Tonawanda's skyline this evening, these stacks will no longer be an eyesore on the horizon or a visual reminder of what these stacks did to our community."
OSC Inc. will cleanup and redevelop this property. The NYSDEC will oversee all of it.
"I'm emotional," James said. "We spent over 16 years fighting to breathe clean air and we won. Today gives me hope because it reminds me sometimes David beats Goliath."