Typically shaky cell-phone videos of communication tower demolitions were bested by six drones Saturday morning when a crew from Electronics Research Inc. (ERI) felled a 540-foot guyed tower in Norfolk, Virg. Once the guy wires were cut, the bottom third of the tower built in the mid-1970s hit the ground and the rest fell within a radius of 200 feet. …
Wisconsin residents can’t return to their homes until tower’s structural integrity is assessed
Police in Bloomer, Wisconsin evacuated residents of eight homes on Thursday evening after authorities became concerned that a nearby tower could collapse, causing injury to those living in the immediate area. It may still be another day or so until they are able to return. The 499-foot guyed tower, owned by InSite Towers LLC of Virginia, was constructed in 1969. InSite acquired …
Reward offered for vandals who cut guy wires and collapsed 150-foot Oregon tower
The Coos County Oregon Sheriff’s Office is offering a reward for the identification and conviction of the parties responsible for cutting the guy wires and collapsing a 150-foot guyed tower on Coos Mountain off BLM 26-1027 1 Road, according to a press release from the department. The damage was discovered Monday morning when a deputy responded to a call of …
Friday’s ham radio climber’s death is a stark reminder of dangers present this weekend during Field Day
Field Day is ham radio operators’ open house as approximately 40,000 amateur radio operators throughout North America set up temporary transmitting stations in public places this weekend to demonstrate ham radio’s science, skill, and service to the nation’s communities. It combines public service, emergency preparedness, community outreach, and technical skills. It also can be deadly. In 2009, while installing an …
Tornadoes kayo at least three cell towers in the past weeks
After an almost two-week streak of tornadoes and record flooding, where individuals lost their homes and businesses, it’s almost a non-story that a few cell towers collapsed, considering that there were no injuries and the structures will be quickly rebuilt by well-funded carriers and towercos. Displaced homeowners and proprietors will not be accorded that benefit. There were multiple self-supporting structures …
May’s total: two toppled broadcast towers due to clipped guy wires
ELK-AM in Elko, Nevada is off the air after its tower collapsed into a parking lot of a restaurant damaging several cars last night. No one was injured. The 198-foot tower, located behind the station, fell after a semi-truck hit a supporting guy wire. It could be several days before the station is back on the air. No injuries were reported. …
Mom watches from her driveway as collapsing tower cuts her mobile home in half
Severe storms in Tuscaloosa County, Ala. Thursday toppled the top sections of a 335-foot guyed tower owned by A1 Two-Way Radio that was erected in 1990. The sections crashed through a mobile home in front of it, severely damaging the structure, according to WBRC. None of the Tully family were at home when the collapse occurred, but Mrs. Tully was …
Texas tower designed for 90 mph wind speed toppled in a 54 mph gust
High winds early this morning caused the collapse of 300-foot self-supporting tower in northwest Abilene, Tex. Owned by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the structure is located at the Abilene District office at 45250 North Clack St. Crews discovered the downed tower this morning around 5 a.m, according to Cheryl Sawyers, spokeswoman for the TxDOT Abilene District. “We suspected …
Rime ice and 100-plus mph winds topple Franklin County Maine tower
Winds in excess of 100 mph collapsed a 120-foot self-supporting tower on the summit of Sugarloaf Mountain in Franklin County, Maine Monday afternoon. Although the structure has survived similar or greater wind speeds on the 4,237-foot summit in the past, rime ice and possibly considerably higher winds toppled the structure. Although an anemometer identified that winds did peak at 100 …
Twister kayos Verizon self-supporting tower in Minnesota
A tornado touched down in Fosston, Minn. Sunday night taking out a 265-foot Verizon self-supporting tower, but sparing the equipment building, a fuel tank and the structure’s foundations.. Verizon will be providing temporary service to the small community of 1,500 residents. The buckled structure also supported the city’s owned and operated cable TV systems. Antennas that receive local channels were also …
Settlement of $4.25 million to a first responder’s family after telecom tower collapse
The family of a Nutter Fort, W. Virg. firefighter was awarded a $4.25 million settlement agreed to by the Harrison County Court System yesterday. The resolved lawsuit and details from the defendant’s bankruptcy also bring into question whether better vetting of a contractor could have prevented his death. Michael Garrett was responding to a tower collapse on Feb. 1, 2014 when the …
High winds in Florida topple Jackson County broadcast tower
When strong winds swept through Jackson County, Fla. late Tuesday, they took down WTOT and WJAQ’s tower in Marianna. WTOT posted a message on their webpage along with a picture of the downed guyed tower saying, “In case you were wondering where your good time oldies are, and your phone APP is not working, well they say a picture is …
Guyed tower collapse was an accidental early decommissioning
A 340-foot tall tower at the West Palm Beach, Fla. city’s water treatment plant crashed to the ground this morning after a worker’s tractor clipped one of its guy wires. Two trucks parked at the Banyan Boulevard plant were crushed but no one was injured and city emergency communications were not interrupted, city officials said. The tractor was moving sludge …
Survivor of horrific TV tower collapse killing seven shares his story after 45 years
On Sept. 7, 1971 in Shoreview, Minn., 32-year-old top tower hand Don Barnard’s supervisor asked him to handle some matters on the ground and he did not climb on that fateful day to assist his 20-year-old brother, Wayne, and five other members of the tall tower crew as they began to lift a section for the 1,280-foot tower’s candelabra platform. …
Civil lawsuit filed against Verizon as the culprit for tower collapses
A Massachusetts tower owner says Verizon acted without due caution in adding equipment to their tower, causing it to collapse in 2014, and they are suing the carrier for $477,000. In reply to the complaint, Verizon said that the damages were caused by “an act of God, and were not in reason preventable by human foresight, strength or care.” North …
As new tower is built following Texas plane crash, NTSB releases a report on its findings
After a tower crew on Monday set the base section of a new 815’ guyed tower for KCBD after a single engine plane crashed into and collapsed the former Lubbock Tex. structure on February 4, 2015, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) coincidentally released the findings of their investigation. The NTSB’s factual report said Doctor Mike Rice’s plane’s propeller nose …
Successful collapse of 48 VOA towers brings back memories of a decade ago disaster
Controlled Demolition, Inc., a world-renowned demolition company, had another successful implosion Monday when it knocked down, almost domino style, 48 unused Voice of America radio towers in Beaufort County, N.C. Using 10,000 feet of detonating chord, Project Manager Tom Doud told WITN that “It was spot-on picture perfect.” But almost ten years ago another planned demolition went terribly wrong when …
SBA seeks at least $1 million from two contractors after towers collapse
Boca Raton, Fla.-based SBA Telecommunications LLC and SBA Towers have filed a property damage lawsuit against S&S Communication Specialists Inc. of Oklahoma, and FDH Engineering, located in North Carolina, following the collapse of two communications towers that resulted in the death of three people. The complaint filed last month, asking for at least $1 million, states that both companies were …
AT&T offers $7,500 reward to catch those who felled a Texas guyed tower
AT&T is offering a reward of up to $7,500 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved in the destruction of the carrier’s tower located at 1901 W. Crawford in Denison, Tex. on Nov. 12, 2015, according to the Denison Police Department. According to authorities, the destruction of this tower affected cell service for AT&T, Sprint, and …
American Tower topples an Oklahoma tower while its sole tenant was broadcasting
UPDATE: Sept. 25, 2015 – Dale Bolton, High Plains Public Radio’s director of programming and operations, said today that he has been informed that an American Tower Corporation representative had called another individual within his organization on Friday afternoon prior to taking the KGUY tower down the following morning for safety reasons. However, Bolton said,”They were unable to get to Guymon to …
