Re: Mt. Washington fire

[brouder@juno.com]

At about 4PM Sunday fire broke out in the old WMTW TV generator building
atop Mount Washington.  The building used to house the staff of Channel 8
before they left the mountain last year, as well sas the three generators
that provide electricity to the entire summit.

At this hour several people are in the Mt. Washington Observatory,
without power, but unharmed.  Winds are 74 miles per hour and smoke was
so thick they couldn't see the generator building or the Yankee building,
which houses transmitters and antennaes for numerous state and federal
agencies and some private commercial concerns.

In the short term, the NH Emergency Alert System is affected.  The
nothern NH EAS microwave link is in the Yankee Building and powered by
the generators that are now a total loss.  NH State Police, Emergency
management, Department of Transportation, Resources and Economic
Development, NECH, and the National Weather Service's new NOAA outlet are
all off the air, as are WHOM and WPKQ.

I believe the generator building was built in 1942 to power the old
Yankee Radio Network.  As far as I know, the five 20,000 gallon oil tanks
below the summit are not involved in the fire.

Ed Brouder, Chairman
New Hampshire State Emergency Communications Committee

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