LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Tropicana Hotel and Casino's iconic structure may be gone— but the dust? That's a whole different story.
Kathy and Roger Bloor, who flew in from Florida to catch the implosion, said it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Abel: "Did you think it was going to get this dusty?"
Kathy: "Yes, I have seen implosions before and it gets very dusty."
Early Wednesday morning, right after the implosion, Channel 13's Joe Moeller caught this video:
You can see the dust everywhere, especially on this Ferrari, barely visible through the haze. For the Bloor's, they tell me the dust was an unexpected challenge.
We came over to this side with the vehicles kicking up the dust and then people walking in front of us. I decided to cover up my nose a bit.
Cleaning up the Strip after the implosion is no easy task. I headed out to the former Tropicana sit and met Gilbert—who was busy trying to clean off as much dust as he could.
Refugio Cornejo, his supervisor with Smart Cleaning Solutions, told me they added an extra 10 workers to speed things up. His team has been out here since 4 a.m. scrubbing down pedestrian bridges and walkways.
Abel: "Is there a specific procedure for the cleanup of implosions?"
Refugio: "Yes, there is. We are talking about months before they let us know to get ready and so we can cover stuff and get ready with more people."
Refugio said it could take about 12 hours to clean up the area. But while work continues, the Bloor's said coming out to watch the implosion in person was definitely worth it.
You can watch the full implosion here
"It was fortunate enough that we were able to take part in history for the implosion of the Tropicana," Roger said.
The spokesperson from the Clark County Division of Air Quality assured Channel 13 that before the implosion, several inspections were conducted to address concerns about asbestos— confirming there would be no significant impact on the air quality.
They also had dust mitigation crews on site, who sprayed water in the area to keep the dust down.
