The “Four Sisters” Coming Down

It’s time to say goodbye to the Four Sisters.

What for many years was considered the worst source of pollution in the Greater Toronto Area, four stacks that stretch high into the city’s skyline from Lakeview West Park, are becoming no more than a part of Toronto history.

The Lakeview Generating Plant has been a controversial site for some time now, and will finally meet its end with a planned explosion. But even as Torontonians’ lungs are sure to appreciate the change, there are those who’ll miss the dirty old smoke stacks.

“It’s kind of an interesting juxtaposition between the pristine game of baseball and the environmental eyesore and pollution behind it,” said Doug Collier, coach of the Mississauga Majors baseball team, which plays in the park.

But those who will miss the site the most, are those who’ll miss the sight.

“It’s one of the first things you can see coming across the lake,” said Mississauga resident and boater Gary Sims.

For 43 years the stacks have served as a beacon for boaters and sailors, and though those on the water won’t be lost without the smog, they may well get lost without its producers.

“I just came back from the U.S. last week and we came past Toronto and that was the first thing we looked for, we looked for the Four Sisters,” said Sims.

“The smokestacks get lit up at night, they can be seen for miles.I know I’m heading home when I can see them.”

Here are some facts about the Lakeview Generating Station, which is scheduled to be demolished on Monday, June 12.

Cost of removing the buildings from the Lakeview Generating Station site: $17 million

The Station:

• In service for 43 years (1962 – 2005)

• Cost $247 million to build

• It was originally an eight-unit station and was considered the largest coal-fired station in the world at the time

• It supplied about 17 percent of Ontario’s electricity needs in the 1970s

• In the 1990s it was reduced to a four-unit station

• During its operating life, the station generated more than 215 billion kWh of electricity – that’s enough to supply all of Ontario’s need for about a year and a half based on 2005 consumption

The Stacks – The Four Sisters:

• Each stack is 146 metres tall (493 feet)
• Base diametre – 12.2 metres
• Top diametre – 7.3 metres

The Demolition

• The plant will be demolished with explosives

• 180 degree arc is exploded out of the east side of the stack to create a void causing the stack to fall in an eastern direction

• Stacks will fall like trees at approximately eight second intervals

• They will fall to the east with the easterly most stacks falling first

• Each stack has a smaller ash silo adjacent that will also be demolished

• Sequence will be most easterly ash silo followed four seconds later by the most easterly stack, then four (4) seconds later the next silo, four (4) more seconds the next stack until they are all down. The demolition sequence will be over in less than a minute

Where To Watch The Demolition

The stacks will come down shortly after 7:30am Monday. If you’d like to watch, arrive early at McMillian Headland Park, at the base of Hampton Crescent.