The final remains of the massive boiler house at the former Cheswick Generating Station was pulled down shortly after 1 p.m. Saturday.
Thick dust, including pieces of fiberglass insulation, enveloped the lower Springdale neighborhood adjacent to the property after the building fell. It was the conclusion of a demolition attempt that started Sunday, but was left incomplete through the week after about 30% of the building remained standing.
Ray Rzeszotarski was watching from the porch of his Garfield Street home, once his grandparents’ house, when the black cloud forced him inside.
“I’m glad its gone,” he said.
The building came down at 1:03 p.m. after delays spanning several hours through the morning as officials and the demolition company wanted to ensure the job was done safely.
Allegheny County Police spokesman Jim Madalinsky said the were no reports of damage or injuries, “just dust and debris, based on initial assessments.”
Boiler house pulled down. Thick cloud sent east into Springdale. pic.twitter.com/NsEJsU3MP0
— Brian Rittmeyer (@BCRittmeyer) March 8, 2025
“Overall, the work took a little bit longer than we expected in the morning, but that wasn’t a bad thing and not unexpected,” said Scott Reschly, president of Charah Environmental Redevelopment Group, the property owner. “We wanted to make sure it was done right and done safe.”
In the afternoon, Reschly said they were pleased with the outcome as crews focused on cleanup.
“Now that everything’s on the ground we’ll be spending the next three to four months cleaning up the site, getting scrap metal loaded onto trucks and recycled,” he said.
Reschly said the roughly 80-acre property, on both sides of Pittsburgh Street, is under contract with a buyer.
He would not disclose specifics at this time, but said the use would be light industrial and commercial, for which the property is currently zoned. More information may be released in a couple of months.
“Now we want to finish remediating and cleaning up the site,” he said. “That’s our main focus right now.”
By 1:19 p.m., first responders were removing barricades and in the process of being released. Street sweepers and water trucks quickly came in to clean roads nearest the building.
Dave Landis was among residents of the lower Springdale area near the plant bothered by the mess. He sought shelter in his garage.
“I knew that was going to happen. It’s everywhere. It’s in the lawn,” he said, kicking up dust by stomping a foot in the grass just off the sidewalk. “I said all along: When it comes down it’s going to make a mess. They’re going to be here a long time cleaning.”
The main roads in Springdale and neighboring Cheswick were reopened by 1:30 p.m. But the area around Porter Street, which borders the site, was to remain closed while the company works on the cleanup.
B&B Demolition’s project manager, Phil Kennedy, explained the reason for the delays in the morning.
“What we’re doing is very dangerous work, and it’s very meticulous,” Kennedy said. “It’s not something we would rush to make an arbitrary timeline or deadline.”
Police sounded sirens 10 minutes and then five minutes before the demolition started.
The rest of the boiler house in Springdale pulled over just after 1 pm today @TribLIVEpic.twitter.com/YOmZ2QSWoD
— Kellen Stepler (@KellenStepler) March 8, 2025
The estimated start time for the work had shifted later several times throughout Saturday morning, originally set for between 9 and 11 a.m.
Kennedy said part of the reason for the delay was that the crew lost a workday Wednesday because of high winds. Crews were trying to make up that lost time Friday night and into early Saturday.
Reschly said the building consisted of two large sections — the coal handling side and the boiler side.
On Sunday, the boiler side, about 70% of the building, came down when the building was pulled west toward Cheswick, but the entire building did not because of how the boiler fell.
The remaining 30%, the coal handling side, was brought down Saturday with a pull east toward Springdale.
“The boiler fell more straight down instead of falling to the west,” Reschly said. “If the boiler had fallen to the west, the rest of the coal section would have traveled with it.”
Featured Local Businesses
Saturday’s pull was made toward Springdale because the remnants on the Cheswick side made making column cuts problematic on the Cheswick side, Kennedy said.
The company was confident that there was enough room on the Springdale side, bordering Porter Street, for the building to fall safely and the debris to remain on the power plant property, he said.
“It landed exactly where we anticipated,” Kennedy said.
Officials had told nearby residents to stay inside their homes during the demolition and for a half-hour after. Residents of certain Springdale homes — on lower Porter Street — were to be evacuated before, during and after the demolition, according to a notice from Springdale Borough.
Road detours were scheduled to be in place at 7:30 a.m., according to county police. The plan was to shut down Freeport Road and Pittsburgh Street from Low Grade Road to Riddle Run Road.
But Pittsburgh Street reopened for a time when the demolition was delayed.
It closed again at noon.
“I’m just ready for it to be over with,” Justin Schmidt, a resident of Garfield Street in Springdale, said prior to the demolition.
He called the first attempt to pull the building down Sunday “kind of comical.”
“I understand stuff happens and it didn’t go according to plan,” he said. “It’s been all year slowly dismantling it. Hopefully by the end of the summer it will all be gone.”
Saturday morning, Springdale resident Ray Hrabos expressed mixed emotions about seeing the landmark power plant come down. He has also been seeing his old school, Colfax, being torn down.
When traveling on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Hrabos said he always knew he was coming up on Springdale from the sight of the power plant’s towering smoke stacks.
“It was iconic. You could see it wherever you were,” he said. “It’s sad to see stuff iconic to Springdale disappear. I hope it will bring a cleaner environment.”
After the incomplete demolition Sunday, residents of three households on lower Porter Street were relocated to hotels this week by Charah, the parent company of CPERG, as a precautionary measure.
The boiler house was set to be imploded in September 2023, but the plan was paused because of a lawsuit filed by 16 Springdale residents who claimed an earlier implosion of two ever taller smokestacks at the site caused damage to their health and properties. They claimed an implosion of the boiler house would be even worse.
An Allegheny County judge granted the injunction, but the ruling was overturned by the state Superior Court last fall.
In January, CPERG decided it would tear down the structure without using explosives.
Brian C. Rittmeyer and Kellen Stepler are TribLive staff writers. Brian can be reached at brittmeyer@triblive.com. Reach Kellen at kstepler@triblive.com.