WEAU 13 tower collapses in Fairchild
The WEAU broadcast tower stood as the tallest man made structure east of the Mississippi for 45 years.
Wednesday morning, a pile of twisted metal strewn around the base of the tower and covering County Road H, is all that remains.
It's a sight that shocked all of us, “It's a landmark, always been a good landmark and now it's gone, it's gonna be kinda weird,” Fairchild volunteer firefighter Ray Kirchoff Jr. tells us.
But weird doesn't even begin to describe how WEAU Chief Engineer Ron Wiedemeier feels, particularly Tuesday night, when he got the news that the tower had in fact collapsed.
“I got a phone call just before I got to the transmitter site, they told me the county had called and the tower was lying on the ground. I parked on the side of the road for a few minutes, because it was gut wrenching,” Wiedemeier remembers.
And the rising of the sun Wednesday morning has done little to dispel what for an engineer, truly is a nightmare.
“I always was concerned someday that that might happen. A comment that the guy who hired me said once, there is only one sure thing about that tower, it will come down,” Wiedemeier says.
While the cleanup will take weeks, and rebuilding the tower could take up to a year, WEAU General Manager Terry McHugh says he's just relieved everyone is safe.
“Thank God there was nobody that was hurt it could have been a lot worse than it was, we could have had a real disaster on our hands,” McHugh says.
McHugh also wants to say thank you to all of our fellow broadcasters and for all of the assistance that has been offered to our station. He says we couldn't have been back on the air Wednesday without their help.
There's more online at:
http://www.weau.com/home/headlines/
118475474.html?storySection=story
|
