TRENTON (WWJ) -- The boiler house at DTE Energy's former Trenton Channel Power Plant is no more after the nine-story building was imploded.
WWJ's Charlie Langton reported the sound could be heard for miles around as crews demolished the nine-story, 102-year-old building Friday morning.
"Now I'll tell you, just wow!" Langton reported, after witnessing the blast from a safe distance. "That's a thousand pounds of explosives there. Within a few seconds, DTE's Trenton Channel Power plant gone!"
"That sound could be heard all the way to Canada, which is across the island, and they got a lot of calls in Canada," Langton said. "It was big; they had a little flash and they had a loud explosion as you just heard, and then a huge black smoke over the Detroit River."
People came from all over to watch, including Steve Schmidt of Wyandotte, who works at the Tipsy Fish on Grosse Ile.
"The flames went sky high; never seen nothing like that before." Schmidt said. "It almost looked like an atomic bomb!"
A DTE spokesperson said the implosion went well, just as planned, and that they worked with local police and fire departments to make sure it was all done safely.
A turbine house still left standing is set to be demolished in the next few weeks.
When teardown is complete, DTE has plans to build what will be the region's largest battery storage facility, as part of a shift toward clean energy.
The new DTE facility is expected to be up and running by November of 2026.