Blasts pass test in Freetown

By Bill Abramson
SOUTH COAST TODAY
March 12, 2009 12:00 AM

FREETOWN — Selectmen Jean C. Fox of Freetown and Julie Taylor of Berkley reported to the Freetown selectmen this week about test blasts at the Cape Cod Aggregates quarry site on the Freetown-Berkley line.

The blasts took place last Friday, and selectmen and Freetown Building Commissioner and Health Agent Paul Bourgeois reported positive results.

“The state threshold is 2.0 vibrations per second,” Fox said. “The highest recording of the four tests was 0.14. That was 93 percent below the state’s mandatory threshold.

“Both fire chiefs were on site and no concerns in Berkley were called in to the Fire Department after the test blasts.”

Fox reported that all individuals in the area who had contacted the towns in the past were invited to the test blasts, and about half of them were there.

It was explained that a series of holes in the ground were detonated milliseconds apart. The sound would have been louder than future blasts because it was close to the surface, and future blasts would be deeper underground.

“There was about one second of sound,” Bourgeois said of what he explained were 185 individual blasts altogether. “It seems to be a well-run operation. I was impressed.”

Fox said the sound was not as loud as the warning blasts before detonating the explosives.

“The sound was mitigated by a number of berms that Cape Cod Aggregates put up,” Fox said. “The sound was less than a firecracker.

“People are getting answers and are more informed. We will be monitoring the quarry on an ongoing basis.”