Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Scorched earth at Durham radio towers


I've got that "snake bit" feeling with our sports radio station towers. An April tornado in Raleigh felled the antenna at our Hispanic sports station, WCLY/1550 ESPN Deportes. Last Wednesday in Durham, a brush and woods fire threatened the towers at WDNC/620 The Buzz. That's the flagship station for the Durham Bulls and Duke University sports.

Despite thirty-one acres of scorched earth, The Buzz was OK and the Bulls vs. Knights game aired as scheduled on August 3rd. Buried transmission cables weren't damaged. The larger concern was nearby homes, but they were protected, too.

The credit goes to forty-three firefighters who worked to contain and extinguish the blaze for over five hours on a searingly hot summer day. We appreciate the good work of the NC Forestry Service, Durham Fire Dept. and volunteers from the Lebanon, Eno and New Hope companies.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Here are a couple of aerial shots of the site in northwest Durham just off I-85...




WRAL TV's Sky5 was overhead. Here's some unedited video of the fire...