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1490 Watkins Glen Tower Collapse
- Thread starter kfitz
- Start date
Kevin Fitzgerald said:I heard that there was one fatality.....anyone here any other info on this situation. I climbed this tower in 1992 to remove an STL dish and it was in poor condition at that time. Very sad. I believe the structure was quite old dating back to the 1960's.
KF
A FATALITY?... Was someone climbing at the time, or was it a ground fatality?
Reports have one fatality. Tower worker strapped to the tower at about 50 feet when it collapsed. Police report said work was being done on the guy wires when one of them snapped and the tower came down.
Here's what Fybush had:
There's a tower down in upstate New York. Tower crews were working on the 400' tower of WRCE (1490 Watkins Glen) Monday afternoon when the 41-year-old structure collapsed, killing one worker. (The worker's ID has not yet been released as of Tuesday morning.)
I believe the worker has since been identified, but I am unsure of his name.
Michael
Here's what Fybush had:
There's a tower down in upstate New York. Tower crews were working on the 400' tower of WRCE (1490 Watkins Glen) Monday afternoon when the 41-year-old structure collapsed, killing one worker. (The worker's ID has not yet been released as of Tuesday morning.)
I believe the worker has since been identified, but I am unsure of his name.
Michael
Would most towers of that age be in poor condition if they are in the rust belt?
The Watkins Glen/ Ithaca area is notable for high humidity/ rain/snow as is ALL upstate NY and PA.
I'm wondering about the old WNWI tower in Valparaiso, IN, now unused for 5-6 yrs since the station was bought and relocated to
Oak Lawn IL. The tower is still up, but for the last 25 years of its use, WNWI ran on nothing more than faith and chewing gum.
It must be in sad shape.
Erected in 1965, it's still lighted, but no RF on it anymore, nor even leased space for other services.
What is the liability for owners who leave a tower up but "abandon" it for a rimshot move-in?
Lighting only?
What are the normal failure points of such an old tower... segments themselves, bolts, or what?
I'd think stainless fasteners would be used. No?
The Watkins Glen/ Ithaca area is notable for high humidity/ rain/snow as is ALL upstate NY and PA.
I'm wondering about the old WNWI tower in Valparaiso, IN, now unused for 5-6 yrs since the station was bought and relocated to
Oak Lawn IL. The tower is still up, but for the last 25 years of its use, WNWI ran on nothing more than faith and chewing gum.
It must be in sad shape.
Erected in 1965, it's still lighted, but no RF on it anymore, nor even leased space for other services.
What is the liability for owners who leave a tower up but "abandon" it for a rimshot move-in?
Lighting only?
What are the normal failure points of such an old tower... segments themselves, bolts, or what?
I'd think stainless fasteners would be used. No?
There's a thread dedicated to this topic on the Buffalo-Niagara Falls-Rochester board. Despite all the speculation, weather, tower age and condition, operator procedure or error; climbing any tower and tensioning a new guy wire is an art and science with little room for error. At this point, it's probably safe to say "nobody knows." More will be known when OSHA completes its analysis. To say the least, a tragedy that a life was lost; and especially sad this time of year.
Would most towers of that age be in poor condition if they are in the rust belt?
The Watkins Glen/ Ithaca area is notable for high humidity/ rain/snow as is ALL upstate NY and PA.
I posted a similar message to Element9's over on the Buffalo/Rochester board: we really don't know and we WON'T know for weeks or months until the forensic analysis is done. And even then we might not know for sure.
However, commenting specifically on the above point: you're correct but it's not as much of an issue as you might think. Because it's all fresh water around here, the rust is nowhere near as bad as it is closer to the ocean. Snow is just water in another form but snow also means cold and that does slow down the chemical reaction that causes rust. Not a lot, but somewhat. OTOH, the lousy weather in the FL can sometimes mean greater ice buildup on a tower and that can be dangerous. Ice buildup can definitely take a tower down if it happens in the wrong way.
But the upshot is that it's no harder to maintain a tower in the Watkins Glen area than it is, say, on Cape Cod...but it's probbly harder than a tower in, say, the desert. Still, ALL towers need regular maintenance of some kind...depends a lot on how the tower is built and where exactly it is built. But you need to regularly tighten/change the guy wires, re-paint (if painted), check/fix weld joints and bolts, replace tower lights, etc etc etc. A lot of tower gear is meant to last for years, if not decades, but it still needs the occasional touch-up.
That is, in NO way, a commentary on whether or not WRCE's tower had sufficient maintenance performed. I have ZERO knowledge on that subject.
As the step daughter of the tower worker who died in December, l can tell you what our family has heard. One of the other workers at the site, that was on the ground, was in a hurry to get home for some reason that day. In his rush to get home he thought it would speed things along by loosing all of the guy wires to speed things up. Anyone who has a brain and that doesn't even work on a tower could tell you that this is a extremely stupid thing to do, since it is the tension wires that hold it up. This other worker happened to be the bosses son and the foreman. Lovely right? OSHA has not given us any of their findings as of yet. So, for now this is all hearsey, but it has come from some reliable sources. In case any of you did not find out his name it was Dirk M. Remington. He left behind a widow, 3 children ages 12, 18, and 23, 1 step daughter and 2 grandsons. He was only 46. He was also certified in many things dealing with towers, and had been working at this type of job for about 8 years.
Fybush's NERW reports that WRCE is back on the air using 100 watts into a Morad TIS-style antenna while a new tower is built.
Inkysalterego said:As the step daughter of the tower worker who died in December, l can tell you what our family has heard. One of the other workers at the site, that was on the ground, was in a hurry to get home for some reason that day. In his rush to get home he thought it would speed things along by loosing all of the guy wires to speed things up. Anyone who has a brain and that doesn't even work on a tower could tell you that this is a extremely stupid thing to do, since it is the tension wires that hold it up. This other worker happened to be the bosses son and the foreman. Lovely right? OSHA has not given us any of their findings as of yet. So, for now this is all hearsey, but it has come from some reliable sources. In case any of you did not find out his name it was Dirk M. Remington. He left behind a widow, 3 children ages 12, 18, and 23, 1 step daughter and 2 grandsons. He was only 46. He was also certified in many things dealing with towers, and had been working at this type of job for about 8 years.
Condolences on your loss.
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