Repairs ongoing to collapsed smokestack at Sun Coke in Haverhill

Published 10:04 am Tuesday, February 24, 2009

HAVERHILL —Work continues this week on repairs the top portion of a smokestack at the Sun Coke plant in Haverhill that collapsed Wednesday, Feb. 11.

Sun Coke spokesman Tom Golembeski said it is not known at this time what caused approximately 120 feet of the facility’s 200-foot main smokestack to fail. He said he did not want to speculate on whether weather played a part in the incident. However, high winds were reported in the area on that day and the National Weather Service in Charleston, W.Va., had issued a wind watch for the Tri-State the previous day, Tuesday, Feb. 10, and then upgraded the watch to a warning for Wednesday and into early Thursday, Feb. 12.

No injuries were reported in the smokestack collapse. The cost of repairs and the estimated time of repair were not immediately available.

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“We continue to operate at somewhat reduced capacity,” Golembeski said.

Golembeski said he does not anticipate any great health impact to the surrounding area because of emissions as a result of the incident.