Work continues on the repair of the 67-foot tall brick chimney at Fredonia’s Wheelock School. A lightning strike had created a long vertical crack in the structure.

According to site superintendent Rick Vizza of ICC Commonwealth of Buffalo, contractor for the project, the best repair approach was to shorten the chimney to below the crack. He noted this is feasible because efficient modern heating equipment requires much shorter chimneys than the old original systems. The new height of the chimney will be less than 20 feet above the existing roof.

The demolition of the chimney is labor intensive due to its location above the school roof. Workers perched on a descending wraparound scaffold use air tools to loosen bricks. These are then hand loaded into a large plastic debris bucket suspended by a crane which lowers the masonry debris to an awaiting dumpster. Before demolition began, workers stabilized the chimney in the area of the crack by wrapping it in steel mesh.

According to Vizza, the project which began two weeks ago, should be completed within two weeks.

ICC Commonwealth, formerly International Chimney, is renowned for their expertise in building, repairing and demolishing tall structures worldwide. Vizza worked for 15 months on the famous moving of the 207 foot Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in North Carolina, which was the subject of numerous documentary films.