Posted on August 14, 2017
For
Immediate Release
Contact:
Sara Sgantas
Phone: 859-392-1404
[email protected]
RADIO TOWER
DAMAGED; DEMOLITION SCHEDULED FOR
TUESDAY, AUGUST
15TH
COVINGTON, Ky. (August 14, 2017) – Around 1:00
p.m. on Friday, August 11th, the Kenton County Fiscal Court was
notified that the radio tower located at Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky (CHNK)
in Covington had been compromised. A
representative of Mobilecomm and employees of the Kenton County Dispatch Center
discovered that a tree had fallen, damaging the tower’s guide wires and compromising
the tower itself.
Structural engineers advised that the tower was not
salvageable, based on observable damage and its age. After reviewing options, Judge/Executive Kris
Knochelmann ordered that a temporary tower be erected to minimize disruption of
911 radio communications.
Because the existing tower is compromised, and will
require demolition and removal, it was viewed as prudent to move the residents
of CHNK during this process. The
demolition will be executed between approximately 12:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. on
Tuesday, August 15th and will require an evacuated safe zone of 750
to 1000 feet beginning at 12:00 p.m. before the controlled blast drops the
tower. Some affected households, including a portion of Rivers Breeze in
Ludlow, will need to shelter in place. These individuals will be contacted
directly.
In the interim, both Mobilecomm and O’Rourke, the demolition
company retained, recommend maintaining a 450 foot clearance zone around the
tower. That radius affects Children’s
Home of Northern Kentucky and a small portion of the golf course at Devou
Park.
For further questions, please contact Kenton County
Administrator Joe Shriver at [email protected].
Any media responding to this event is asked to meet in
the marked, lower parking lot of the Behringer-Crawford Museum.