Centennial Mills Portland was set for demolition Monday afternoon in Northwest Portland, and residents in the Pearl District were preparing for blasts, text alerts and possible dust as crews moved ahead with controlled explosives. The fire-damaged warehouse caught fire more than two weeks earlier, leaving nearby households to plan around the first detonation.
Devin Kennedy, a Pearl District resident, said, “How long does this kind of last and what’s the air quality going to be like” as the demolition approached. Kennedy added, “We just want to make sure that we’re safe, make sure our dogs are safe as well, so just doing the necessary precautions.”
Northwest Portland blasts
City crews were on site Sunday preparing to bring down the water tower first, then start dismantling the remaining walls if the early blasts went as planned. Residents within a half of a mile of Centennial Mills were told to expect to hear the explosions likely early Monday afternoon, with a text alert set to go out roughly an hour before the first explosives went off.
The contractor was to clear everyone from within 300 feet of the building before the detonation. Sirens were set to sound three minutes before the blasts and again one minute before, followed by a verbal five-second countdown and four simultaneous blasts. City officials said a public alert message would go out when that stage of demolition was complete.
Courtney France Kennedy on cleanup
Courtney France Kennedy said, “We’ve heard a lot of rumors about asbestos and just air quality as [Devin]” and added, “So, just making sure that we’re masked up and just getting all the tips and tricks, closing our windows, [and] making sure we’re safe.” She also said, “A lot of the communication that we’ve had has come from our leasing office of the building that we live in, which has been helpful, but just knowing exactly when it’s gonna happen, a lot of that information we’ve had to seek out ourselves.”
City officials warned that dust from the blast could be hazardous, and if people needed to leave home soon after detonation, crews urged them to wear an N-95 mask and avoid tracking dust back inside. Chris Conley said, “I get you can’t predict the future, but I think it would be nice to have a little more communication of what’s happening.”
Centennial Mills timeline
The city said the building’s instability made it unclear how the structure would react to the initial blasts, even as crews prepared to proceed. If the water tower came down cleanly, workers were expected to move on to the rest of the walls, and the city said it could take up to two weeks for the building to be brought down to half its height.
