NNSL file photo
A temporary fix has been made for the emergency services radio antenna on top of the Hay River fire hall.
The antenna had been atop a tower that tumbled in high wind on Oct. 14.
Fire Chief Ross Potter, who is also the director of protective services with the Town of Hay River, said a tripod base was recently installed on top of the fire hall and the antenna was placed on a pipe extending skyward.
"So our radios are working properly again," he said.
"It's pointed in the right direction," he said of the antenna. "And it's right side up."
The antenna is about 20 feet above the roof of the fire hall.
Potter said the range of the antenna is not as good as before the tower fell.
"It's good enough for dispatch and stuff like that for local calls," he said. "But if we're out on the highway, we used to get just about all the way to Kakisa with radios and now we're cut back considerably from that."
Radio communication is now only available to about Enterprise.
"But we've got satellite phones on both the rescue truck and on the ambulance," said Potter. "There's always a backup somewhere."
Radio communications had continued to be provided by the antenna even after the tower fell and before the temporary fix.
Potter said the tripod arrangement will remain in place until a new tower has been designed and approved, and installed in January or February.
The new tower will be a 65-feet-high, the same as the one that fell.
However, it will not be an aluminum tower, like the one that failed, Potter noted. "This will be a steel tower that will not fail."
Still, he noted the former tower was rated for 80 kph winds, and it fell in winds that gusted up to 68 kph.
Potter said engineers are still trying to determine why that happened.
The new tower will be supplied by WesTower Communications of Vancouver.
Potter had no estimate of the cost of the new tower.
"We're still waiting for the quote on it, but most of the cost will be absorbed by the insurance company," he said. "The town may have to pay for part of it in the effect that it is definitely an upgrade from the tower that we had before. So the town will end up having to pay the difference on that."
The old tower has been removed from the fire hall. After it fell, it had been secured to the side of the building as a safety precaution to prevent it from moving.
"So the safety concerns we had there are gone," said Potter.
Another antenna had been on the tower and used by ArcTech Computers – the town's information technology contractor – to provide Internet services through wireless communications connecting the town hall, the Visitor Information Centre and the town garage.
That antenna has been placed on a second tripod atop the fire hall.