Disappearing Act

Well, it's been some time since I've even thought of posting but now I have something worthy. No, it's not about a food product I've tried. It's about something truly amazing. This past weekend, I witnessed the demolition of the 2nd tallest building in the world ever to be imploded - 30 stories tall. Right here in my own state of Texas, in downtown Fort Worth. My wife and I got up nice and early and made the trip to FW to see this hulking mass of concrete and steel meet its maker. The whole thing, from first detonation to pile of rubble, took about 10 seconds. The demolition was scheduled for 8am but it went off 20 minutes early (good thing we were there in plenty of time). I feel bad for the folks that were still making their way to a viewing spot and didn't get to see it come down. This building was the old Landmark Tower that was hit pretty hard by a tornado in March of 2000. A local energy company bought the building and decided to tear it down to make way for a beautiful parking lot. It turned out to be quite an event. The city was expecting some 10 thousand people to turn out to see it but I'm guessing there were more. Due to the proximity of this implosion, we've heard a lot about the process and the people who travel to see these in person. There are folks who travel from very far away to see these buildings come down. I can't imagine myself traveling a great distance to see something like that but I can understand why others do. We were able to get about 2 blocks away and had a pretty good view. Here's how it all went down (pun intended). The detonations took place in a string of blasts (similar to the quick, loud explosions you'd hear at a fireworks display). They work their way up the building and you can see some of the light generated through window openings. That whole process takes about 3 seconds. After the last explosion, everyone gasps and there's an eerie silent pause. Two reasons this happens (so says I): 1) most folks aren't used to being near explosions and there is quite a concussion effect if you're close enough; 2) you know a huge building is about to fall but it just stands there, seemingly unaffected by the explosions. The pause lasted about 2 seconds. Then, almost gracefully, the building begins to fall practically straight down. As if it's just sinking in place. I honestly don't remember if there was much noise as it was falling. I was just standing there gazing, jaw dropped. Five seconds later, all that's visible is a swirling cloud of brown dust. Within just a few minutes afterward, the dust had settled and everyone was on their merry way. It was as if there never was a 30 story building standing in that spot. What a way to start the day!

To see a video of the implosion, click here: Landmark Tower implosion