Neighbors preparing for Dome implosion

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - From a large hotel to a beautiful old church those who oversee buildings in the shadow of the RCA Dome are preparing for a big bang Saturday morning.

Nearly a thousand pounds of explosives will go off inside the Dome reducing it to rubble in less than a minute.

Just across the street is St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church. It's well over a century old and adorned with beautiful stained glass windows.

So, will those windows be endangered?

"Well fortunately, they all do have an outside covering on them and there's no concern about damage from the actual explosion. It would just be perhaps a concern of any debris that would be flying out and there again there is already an existing covering. Everybody agrees that should anything like that happen it would be enough to prevent damage of one of the windows," said Tom Nichols, St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church.

Nichols said planning for the Dome implosion has not disrupted the life of the church much. He said the noon service will not take place Saturday so clean-up around the church can take place.

But, he expects all will be cleaned up by early evening so that the church can have its 5:30 p.m. mass. Nichols said those responsible for the implosion have been meeting with the church since September.

WISH-TV and WISHTV.com will provide live coverage of the implosion Saturday morning.