Video: Explosion brings down Metrodome’s ‘ring beam’

An Idaho demolition contractor blowed up the Metrodome real good this morning. They touched off the blast about 7:30 a.m., after closing the streets around the Metrodome and cordoning off a safety area in the neighborhood.

The explosive demolition went off without a hitch, according to Mortenson Construction vice president John Wood. The blast was meant to bring down only the upper ring of the structure, after an expected collapse as that was being demolished last week. "It was a complete success. It is laying on the ground," Wood said. "That was mission accomplished... It went exactly as planned."

You can hear the blast here:

Wood said the crew removed 24 columns within the building using 84 charges of conventional dynamite.

Mortenson called in the explosives experts after work was halted by the partial collapse on Monday, Wood said:

"As the demolition crews were working on the ring beam with more conventional demolition equipment, a section on this east side came to the ground in an out of sequence and unplanned event. We knew there was some potential of that... But when that occurred, we recognized we had to take a different approach to the demolition of a remaining beam."

It's the second time demolition crews have used explosives on the Metrodome. They took out the cables that held up the roof with explosives on Feb. 2.

Don't count on any more, Wood said. "We think this will be the last use of explosives in the demolition process. From this point forward, it should be a pretty conventional approach."

Here's the MSFA statement on the blast:

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