NEW ORLEANS — It was August of 2013 when a controlled explosion brought down an old Pacific Gas & Electric power plant in Bakersfield, California.
Seconds after the charges were detonated, debris flew through the air. Fragments hit several bystanders and severed one man’s leg.
The California Department of Occupational Safety and Health opened an investigation into the accident and fined Dem-Tech and another contractor nearly $30,000 combined.
The state said that Dem-Tech and the other company failed to figure out the right size of the blast area and didn’t make sure everyone was out of the blast zone, including police officers. They also did not get the proper permits.
Now, that company is working with the owner of the partially-collapsed Hard Rock Hotel at Canal and North Rampart streets to implode the structure sometime in the next nine weeks.
Tom Greiwe, Dem-Tech's owner, on Wednesday declined an interview with Eyewitness News, and he would not answer questions about the violations. He would only say that happened under a prior owner.
1031 Canal Development, the Hard Rock’s owner, was responsible for picking Dem-Tech and will have to pay for the implosion. But the city will oversee everything.
“I cannot emphasize enough that the city will remain in control of this,” New Orleans Fire Superintendent Tim McConnell said Tuesday in announcing the demolition plans. That announcement came on the one-month anniversary of the collapse that killed three workers.
McConnell said the city will have to approve anything Dem-Tech does leading up to the implosion sometime around mid-January.
“The city is engaging an engineering firm on our own who is experienced in this work to ensure that everyone is doing everything as safe as possible,” he said. “If it can’t be done safely, then we won’t let it happen. Trust me.”
The city on Wednesday reiterated that it must approve any work before the demolition.
On Tuesday, the city said it hopes to be able to open riverbound Canal Street in the coming weeks. It plans to get the Saenger open again by early December. And officials hope they can get the other businesses still closed right now open soon as well.
It will take about three months after the implosion to clear the site.
City Councilwoman Kristin Palmer, in whose district the hotel sits, says she hopes the area can become green space after the clean-up, until a new, permanent plan can be made.
“How horrible would it be, you have this big fence -- this temporary construction fence -- around there for a couple of years?” she said. “That’s not the image we want.”
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