Marysville prepares for Saturday's blast

MARYSVILLE - Dawn Valko works at the Allstate Insurance office at Gratiot and Busha in Marysville and would have the best view of Saturday's implosion of the Mighty Marysville power plant.

But she won't be there.

"We are not open and we are not allowed to be there," said Valko, who works as a customer service representative at the agency.

"Myself and my family will probably go to the Harsens Island Brewery (the site of an implosion party)," Valko said. "I know we can watch it from their driveway."

Tom Konik, Marysville public safety chief, said the city wants to be sure no one is injured during the implosion, which is scheduled for 8 a.m. Saturday. If someone tries to sneak into what is called the exclusion zone, he will be escorted out, Konik said.

The exclusion zone, he said, is from the first house north of the plant, which is at 301 Gratiot Blvd., west to St. James Street and south to Lynwood Street. The zone will be in effect from 6 to 10 a.m.

No one will be allowed in Morton Park, he said.

"It's nice, but way too close," he said.

Konik said there are eight homes in the exclusion zone. Employees from the general contractor for the demolition Sitetech, Inc. of Grafton, Ohio, went door-to-door talking with residents about what to expect.

"They cannot be outside during the implosion," he said. "They have to leave or they can be inside."

Valko said employees at the insurance agency don't have that option. She said engineers will be at the agency to assess the structure and what might need to be done before the implosion.

"They're saying right now we don't have to take any extraordinary measures," she said.

Some agency employees are considering putting a remote camera in a window to record the implosion, she said.

The contractor's employees will power wash the building after the implosion and inspect it to be sure there's no damage, Valko said.

Konik said the morning will begin with road closures at 6 a.m.

"The actual hard closure will have traffic shut down," he said, "We're stopping traffic at Ravenswood. The detour will be Ravenswood, down Michigan to where the old high school used to be, and then out to Busha Highway."

An electronic sign just to the north of Huron on Busha warns motorists the road will be closed at 6 a.m. Saturday.

Konik expects a large crowd will show up Saturday to watch the implosion. He said spectators can park at the Market Square shopping plaza on Gratiot.

"That's kind of where we recommend a place," he said. "We talked to the owner, and he said if people wanted to park there, they could."

Marysville has many mature trees, he said, so in some places only the upper stories of the plant will be visible.

"The best viewing area is going to the Canadian shore or a boat," he said.

Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley said city officials are aware they could be getting a lot of visiting Americans on Saturday. Some of the prime viewing areas, he said, are along River Road where it runs through the Aamjiwnaang First Nation reserve.

"I was talking to the acting city manager about it," Bradley said. "We have been getting cooperation from Marysville and the emergency people over there, but there are concerns about how many people might show up on Saturday morning.

"…What we are discussing here is traffic control," he said. "We don't want the road shut down.

"I wouldn't be surprised if there were a couple hundred or thousands of people showing up."

He said he can see the plant from his apartment in downtown Sarnia.

"With the Black River bridge, they are the two iconic symbols of St. Clair County visible from Lambton County," he said.

Konik said the U.S Coast Guard will begin enforcing a safety zone in the St. Clair River from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. The zone extends east from the north and south limits of the exclusion zone.

Among the businesses in the exclusion zone, besides the insurance agency, are the Lynwood Bar and Blue Water Aggregates.

The Federal Aviation Agency has established a no-fly zone within a half mile of the plant, Konik said. People using camera drones, and Konik said he expects a few, will need to keep their aircraft out of the exclusion zone.

"Drones have had issues in the past depending on how much dust and debris (the implosion) puts up. They might not get (the drone) back."

The subcontractor doing the implosion is Controlled Demolition Inc., of Phoenix, Maryland.

"When the dust clears, people shouldn't expect the building to be flat," Konik said. "They're lowering it down to where their equipment can get at it."

He said the general contractor has a number of street sweepers ready to handle dust and debris, and the roads could reopen by 9 a.m. if everything goes according to plan.

He said firefighters, police officers and contractor employees will be patrolling the perimeter of the exclusion zone to make sure no one enters an area where they could be in danger.

Contact Bob Gross at (810) 989-6263 or rgross@gannett.com Follow him on Twitter @Robert Gross477

More information

The Times Herald will have video coverage of the implosion at www.thetimesherald.com

Marysville has information about Saturday's implosion on the city's website at www.cityofmarysvillemi.com.

People also can call the general contractor, Sitetech, Inc., at (888) 558-7483 ext. 1.

The implosion party at the Harsens Island Brewery, 808 Gratiot Blvd., starts at 7 a.m Saturday.

Rix's on the Rocks, 3136 Military St., will have an implosion party at 7 a.m. Saturday.

The Port Huron Moose Lodge, 3520 Military St., will have an implosion party, open to the public, starting at 7 a.m.

The Mighty Marysville isn't visible from the Junction Buoy, 1415 River Road, but the bar is going to open at 7 a.m.

Saturday's forecast is for partly cloudy skies and a temperature of 48 degrees at 8 a.m.

Sunrise is at 7:11 a.m.