Smokestack Gets Shorter But Doesn't Come Down In Failed Implosion

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CRESCENT TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- An old Duquesne Light smokestack in Crescent Township was supposed to come down Saturday, but instead of collapsing, it just got a little shorter.

Folks watched from a distance, waiting for the last vestige of the now-demolished Phillips Power Plant to come down, but the implosion fizzled.

WATCH: Raw video of failed implosion --

After a loud boom and a thick cloud of dust, the old smokestack was shorter, but still standing.

"Nothing. It went boom, and that was it. It didn't even fall," Chris Torreance said. "It dropped probably 10, 15, 20 feet, maybe. Just enough where you could see, but... just a bunch of smoke."

Fred Cameron's house is almost in the shadow of the smokestack. He has one of the best views in the township from his backyard.

"Oh yeah, it was just a big bang and didn't go nowhere. It was a real big bang. It came straight down and just stopped. They wanted it to fall that way, and it didn't cooperate," Cameron said.

Advantage Blasting And Demolition is handling the job. It's believed the problem was a back wall of the structure.

"They were jackhammering it and doing it all week. They took a big chunk out of the bottom, it looked like," Cameron said. "They told me I should leave, but I ain't leaving my house."

Cameron says he had some concerns that the smokestack could fall in his direction when it came down. Now he has to wait like the rest of his neighbors.

The smokestack is now leaning slightly to the right, but officials say it's not posing any danger.

The company is expected to finish the job sometime next week. As the saying goes, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.