Preservationist points finger of blame as structure falls into river.
A leading preservationist says it was fortunate that no boats were heading down the Buffalo River Friday when the remaining tower of the former Wheeler Grain elevator fell into the river.
Tim Tielman, executive director of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo, blamed miscalculations by a demolition crew as the cause of the tower’s collapse. Tielman, who has opposed the demolition in the past, criticized city officials for failing to properly police the demolition work.
The Wheeler Grain elevator “was gone by the beginning of this week” and the remaining tower of the complex, which fell into the river Friday afternoon, apparently was being partially dismantled by a crew from Ontario Specialty Contracting, which owns the entire grain elevator site, Tielman said.
The demolition crew “must have miscalculated,” leading to the tower unintentionally collapsing into the river and causing city fire department crews to close a nearby bridge to traffic until the situation could be assessed, Tielman said.
But Matthew J. Beck, an attorney for the demolition crew, said it was known ahead of time that the tower could fall into the river. “Today’s events were not a collapse,” Beck said in a statement. “This was a controlled demolition process and the structure was purposefully taken down today as planned. There were no injuries, and the operation was successful. A small segment of a dilapidated tower did enter the water abutting the property and will be removed promptly as part of demolition operations.”
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