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 …
Oklahoma tornado takes out a part of broadcasting and defense history
An AM tower array that was designated to be an emergency broadcast station in the event of nuclear war, collapsed yesterday evening in Moore, Okla. after tornadoes ripped through the area, causing what the National Weather Service believes to be the first tornado fatality in 2015 in Sand Springs. Two of the square KOKC Blaw-Knox 327-foot towers constructed in 1947 …
Pilot is killed after his aircraft crashes into a Lubbock, Tex. TV tower
A Texas physician is dead after he piloted his small aircraft into a TV tower’s guy wires as he approached an airport in West Texas, causing the 814-foot guyed tower to collapse in Lubbock, Tex. last night at about 7:25 p.m., according to authorities. Dr. Kenneth M. Rice was killed after his single-engine Piper PA-46 crashed into Raycom Media’s KCBD …
NIOSH issues report on tower collapses that killed two techs and a fire fighter
In a detailed summary by the National Institute of Safety and Health (NIOSH), the federal agency investigated the collapse that killed two tower technicians last year in West Virginia in addition to a volunteer fire fighter who died after two towers collapsed at the SBA Communications site. Although the focus of the report was to ensure that fire departments should …
Corroded anchor may have contributed to a South Dakota tower’s collapse
A guyed tower in Mitchell, SD collapsed on Monday on West Havens Ave. due to severe winter weather conditions, but a corroded anchor rod may have contributed to the structure’s failure. The anchor shaft on one of the tower’s outer foundations separated from its deadman foundation due to severe corrosion, according to an individual knowledgeable about the collapse. Following the anchor …
After two years of sparring, KSMQ settles tower collapse claim
When KSMQ-TV’s tower collapsed on Sept. 5, 2012 in Austin, Minn. during a severe wind and rain storm, the public television station turned to their insurance carrier to assist them in covering their anticipated cost of $620,000 to replace their 444-foot tall guyed tower. Then The Hanover Insurance Group threw them a curve ball, stating that they weren’t going to …
