Smithfield tower down, roads open

Smithfield, N.C. — The communications tower damaged by high winds Thursday afternoon in Smithfield was on the ground before dawn Friday, brought down in pieces by crews working overnight to prevent a collapse.

Homes and businesses near the intersection of U.S. highways 70 and 301 were evacuated Thursday evening after authorities said a cable snapped on the tower, making it unstable.

Capt. Bentley Powell of the Smithfield Fire Department said crews were dispatched to the tower at 4:46 p.m. to find it swaying in the wind. They spent hours evaluating the damage and getting people out of the potential danger zone.

"The tower was very unstable, and safety is our top priority," Powell said.

By 4:30 a.m., the danger has passed and the tower, cut in 30-foot sections, lay on the ground.

"It was a couple of hours to get the cranes set up, and just only a matter of 45 minutes to get the tower down safely," Powell said.

Authorities alerted the management of a Hardee's that they could reopen for breakfast. Powell said the other evacuees were being notified that it was safe to return. Brightleaf Boulevard reopened just before 6 a.m.

12 Comments

WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

VIEW ALL 12 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments. Comments on WRAL.com news stories are accepted and moderated between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Latest Comments

Did they mention why Hardees was contacted? Hardees is aprox 5 miles from that intersection. Several other businesses closer.

RM24
July 6, 2012 6:08 p.m.

Makes my radio heart sad to see a potentially good tower come down in a demolition kinda way like RKBA said. The tower seems to have been for a construction company office located next to it. They probably used it for 2-way Business type FM Radios in the days before cell phones killed most of them. Not sure it was in any active use anymore, but it really was a nice tower; could have made a great amateur radio repeater site or county/city emergency back-up tower with good guy lines replaced.

jd21
July 6, 2012 5:10 p.m.

This was a Rohn 25 tower. It would have been easier to get the bucket truck to reattach a new guy wire and pull it back into plumb, but it seems the previous owner of the tower abandoned it?