UNPLANNED DOWNTILT – In photographs obtained by Wireless Estimator, it appears that either the pier and pad foundations failed or remained intact when the surrounding earth shifted on the hillside, possibly due to water runoff. Harmoni Towers, the owner of the 295-foot self-supporting tower, said that they would investigate the reason for the failure once they have disassembled the tower this week.
A 295-foot, multi-tenant self-supporting tower perched about 60 feet above an Alabama highway is being dismantled by crane this week after inspectors found it leaning and at risk of collapse in Cullman County late last week.
Had the 295-foot self-supporting tower collapsed, it would have crossed the two-lane AL 69. Although the tower was leaning, approximately 60 feet above the road, it wasn’t readily noticeable because trees on the hill obscured most of the structure.
The structure, owned by Harmoni Towers and located along Highway 69 in Bremen, northeast of Jasper, was undergoing a scheduled maintenance visit when it was observed that the foundation had sunk and shifted, causing the tower to lean toward the roadway.
A spokesperson for Harmoni, the seventh largest tower owner in the nation, said, “We immediately deployed our teams to assess the situation. In an abundance of caution, the on-site team, with the support of our senior management team, decided to disassemble the tower. We also immediately alerted state and local authorities of our plans, offering them an opportunity to investigate.”
Harmoni noted that its approach “has been and remains safety first.” “For now, our focus is to ensure that our tenants, adjacent property owners, people, and our on-site team, engineers, and inspectors are safe,” they said.
Once the tower is safely taken down—which the company says is the top priority—Harmoni will investigate whether recent heavy rain or other weather played a role, and whether additional factors contributed to the foundation movement.
Although thunderstorms affected Cullman County last week, recorded rainfall was under an inch, top wind gusts were around 40 mph, and no microbursts were reported.
If the tower had failed in the direction of the roadway, it would have extended across the 28-foot two-lane highway. While there are homes opposite the road, an aerial review indicates no residences would likely have been struck even if the pier-and-pad foundation pulled free and the full height of the structure fell downhill.
The tower was erected in 2021 by Uniti Group and later acquired by Harmoni.
