major accident in the Netherlands. Tower collapse.

[Whitehouse]

A fire took down one of the main broadcast masts in the Netherlands. And another mast was switched off when they smelled a fire odour!! Freak coincidence?? Consequence is that 80% of the country cannot recieve the five main station plus some commercial stations. Furthermore mobile communication is out in the northern part of the country. This disaster took place around 15:30 pm local, roughly two hours ago from posting this message.

The fire was short but the result was spectacular. I know this mast. It's a major beacon for me in the landscape.

First video on youtube! Strong language [[partly in Dutch... That's Kut and not Cut. I don't think I have to translate that one....)


Major bummer!!


Press release.

THE HAGUE, [[AFP) - A fire caused a partial collapse of a 300-metre communications mast in northern Netherlands Friday, knocking out television and radio stations, a local municipal official said.

The fire at the 300-metre-high [[984 feet) television mast in Hoogersmilde in the Drenthe province, about 160 kilometres [[100 miles) northeast of Amsterdam, broke out around 2:00 pm [[1200 GMT), said Midden-Drenthe municipality spokeswoman Miriam Fokkema.
"There was a fire shortly before 2:00 pm and then at about 3:45 pm the upper part of the mast collapsed," Fokkema told AFP.
Dutch news agency ANP said a 200-metre-high metal mast collapsed on top of a 100-metre concrete tower after the fire broke out.
"Nobody is believed to have been injured," said Fokkema, adding that the area suffered severe communication problems with the tower used as a major broadcast hub for television, radio and telephone communications.

[gazhekwe]

How on earth could a thing like that catch fire?

[Ray1936]

How on earth could a thing like that catch fire?

Electrical short, I'm sure. Notice all the wires pulling out of the antenna sheathing on the last part of the collapse.

[Whitehouse]

There was maintanance work going on at the moment. Thee were workers above the fire when the alarm was raised. Thankfully everyone got down before the tower collapsed. An exclusion zone of 300 meters was ordered by police. The plan was to bring a fire crew with light equipment up to quench the fire. But the situation got worse and everyone was ordered to stay clear. I would say that was an excellent call. No one got injured. The fire in the other broadcast antenna, 100 miles to the south near the city of Utrecht, the Gerbrandy tower, was caused by an electrical short. This happened in the morning but this fire was dealt with successfully. In the afternoon the other mast caught fire and as a safety precaution the first mast was switched off, resulting in the loss of FM signal in about 80% of the whole country.

This is not the first incident with the Smilde tower. Back in 1968 one a the guy wires was hit by an American F100 Super Sabre stationed at the British base Lakenheath. The wire snapped and the tower was slightly bent. The jet landed safely with some damage and the tower was repaired.


The Smilde mast in better days.



The Gerbrandy tower.