By Howard Wilkinson
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Piles of concrete reinforcing bar sit in a huge pile on the west side of Cinergy Field Friday afternoon. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

Thirteen years ago, then-Bengals coach Sam Wyche made Riverfront Stadium history when he grabbed the public address microphone in the middle of a Bengals-Seahawks game.

He yelled at rowdy Cincinnati fans, "You don't live in Cleveland. You live in Cincinnati."

Today, the people who are about to turn the 32-year-old home of the Reds and Bengals into a pile of debris want you to know that you're not in Omaha, Neb., either.

A month ago, three Pinnacle Foods Corp. buildings in downtown Omaha were brought down by implosion. But an adjacent building not scheduled for demolition collapsed as well when debris from the 10-story structures fell on its roof.

That struck home for those who have nearly completed the construction of the $300 million Great American Ball Park.

At some points, on the site some call the "Wedge," the new ballpark is literally, at its closest point, an arm's length away from Cinergy Field, which is to be imploded at 8 a.m. Dec. 29.

Not to worry.

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• Cinergy: A gentle explosion • Police working to keep public out of danger • Info, maps • Implosion wheres, whens, and don'ts • Camera to give its life capturing inside look

That's the word from officials from Hamilton County and O'Rourke Wrecking Co., the Cincinnati demolition firm hired to bring down the old stadium.

Next Sunday, 1,400 pounds of explosives, stored in three solid-steel magazines under armed guard, will be taken out and placed in holes drilled into the 18 concrete columns that hold up the stadium. They will be detonated in a 37-second event that will bring Cinergy Field tumbling down one section at a time.

It will be a jolt that O'Rourke officials say will be about the same intensity as the grand finale of the annual Labor Day weekend Riverfest fireworks. It will be loud and full of force, they promise - but not enough force to do damage to downtown buildings built to withstand earthquake.

"Even if we end up breaking a window or two at Great American, we're not going to consider the project a failure," said Mike Sieving, Hamilton County's construction manager. "But I don't even see that happening."

O'Rourke Wrecking and the people overseeing the demolition for Hamilton County have been working for 11 months to ensure that the 37-second implosion of Cinergy Field does no harm to the Reds' new ballpark or any of the other buildings and structures nearby, including the Roebling Suspension Bridge, downtown office buildings and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, still under construction.

Still, the successor ballpark is the biggest concern because of its proximity. After all, it has to be ready for Opening Day on March 30.

Fall inside the wall

On the morning of Dec. 29, nearly 2,000 carefully placed explosive charges will cause the stadium to collapse in on itself. That, officials say, is the greatest protection Great American and other nearby structures can have.

"You hate to call any kind of explosion gentle, but that is what this will be - a gentle explosion," said Arnie Rosenberg of Parsons-Brinckerhoff, the firm hired by the county to monitor construction of the new field. "There will be dust, a little debris falling, and that should be it."

The way Cinergy Field was constructed inadvertently created a receptacle for the debris from its demolition. A 15-foot high flood wall - a foot thick and built of reinforced concrete - surrounds the stadium.

Three Rivers Stadium crumbles as seen from Allegheny Campus of Community College of Allegheny County, North Side on 2/11/02. (File photos) | ZOOM to view 4 photos; 175K |

When the columns of Cinergy Field start falling nine seconds after the initial firing of explosives, they will fall inside the flood wall and another 30 feet of concrete wall sections on top of the flood wall that used to be the outer walls of clubhouses and service areas.

It means the stadium itself will drop into a bowl 45 feet deep.

"The flood wall will be kind of a container for the debris," said Mike O'Rourke, president of O'Rourke Wrecking.

Mr. O'Rourke said removal of two sections of Cinergy Field closest to the new ballpark lessen the possibility of damage to the new one.

Nonetheless, work on Great American will stop this week, and the entire west front of the new park will be draped with "geo-textile" material, a tough mesh net used in the demolition business to catch debris.

"This stuff is strong. It ought to hold back just about anything that comes its way," Mr. Sieving said.

Mr. Sieving said that, early on, county officials asked contractors to identify forces - wind, seismic and explosive - that could damage adjacent structures and to prevent problems.

"We're satisfied that they've done everything there is to be done," Mr. Sieving said.

There are reasons for their confidence:

The force should be one-sixth the federal blasting standards, according to seismic tests. "Any modern building that is within earshot of this was built to withstand earthquakes," Mr. Sieving said."This is going to be nothing near that in terms of the jolt it will cause."

Underground sewer and utility lines beneath the Cinergy Field site have been checked, Mr. Sieving said, "and they are deep enough that there will be no damage."

Sewer lids in the restricted zone around Cinergy Field - an area bounded by Mehring Way, Third Street, Great American Ball Park and Elm Street - will be covered with large metal plates to avoid damage.

The 140-year-old Roebling Suspension Bridge can withstand the vibes it will receive. It stands directly southwest of Cinergy Field.

"Unless there is something inherently wrong with that bridge - and we have no reason to believe there is - it shouldn't be a problem," Mr. Sieving said.

What demolition workers and county officials are banking on to allay public fears is an understanding of how implosion works.

"Remember, this place is not blowing up," Mr. O'Rourke said. "It's just falling in on itself."

Countdown to a detonation

In military-style precision, Cinergy Field will be leveled by 1,400 pounds of nitroglycerin at 8 a.m. Dec. 29:

Here's the detonation timeline:

D minus 2 hours: Police close streets, bridges, access to the Paul Brown Stadium plaza.

D minus 1 hour: The U.S. Coast Guard cuts off boat traffic on the Ohio River.

D minus 20 minutes: Cinergy Field and the restricted area around it undergo a final sweep to make sure the perimeter has not been breached.

D minus 2 minutes: First siren sounds.

D minus 1 minute: Second siren sounds.

D minus 10 seconds: On the command "fire," Jim Matthews of Sharonville pushes a ceremonial button. In a nearby control center, O'Rourke officials simultaneously begin the detonation.

Implosion:

The first 9 seconds: Explosive charges in 18 supporting columns begin detonating, each blast nine milliseconds apart.

The next 28 seconds: Cement columns and pre-cut steel support beams begin falling, counter-clockwise from northeast to southeast, until the entire stadium has fallen in on itself.

After the implosion:

The clean-up: It begins almost immediately. It will take months to haul away the nearly 135,000 tons of concrete, rebar and structural steel. O'Rourke officials say the site will be cleared by the Aug. 31 deadline set by Hamilton County.

What happens to the debris: The debris belongs to O'Rourke Wrecking Co., as did all the seats and other ball park fixtures that O'Rourke has been selling to the public. It will be sold for scrap and eventually recycled.

What will happen to the site?: When the site is cleared this summer, it will be turned over to Hunt Construction Group, the builder of Great American Ball Park, and, by the summer of 2004, will become the site of the new Reds Hall of Fame.