ALLEMAN, IA, (THECOUNT) — Alleman, Iowa TV station KDSM, has been off-air since last Friday after experiencing problems with their TV tower. Just today, the station released a Facebook post saying they had put on hold plans to begin work on the tower citing high winds.
On Wednesday, first responders were called to reports someone had fallen from the KDSM tower. Lt. Heath Osberg with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office confirms a 50-year-old male tower worker who was doing repairs fell to his death around 10:50 a.m.
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Via KSDM Facebook:
“KDSM FOX 17 Tower Update 5/22: Winds have been too strong this morning to send a crew up the tower to make the repairs. If the wind calms down later this morning or this afternoon, the crew will make their way up the tower to make the repairs. If that does happen and everything goes well, we could be back on by later this evening. Repairing the damaged line on the tower continues to be our top priority. A few viewers have asked why this couldn’t be done on Saturday when the weather was better in the morning. It’s important to remember we are dependent upon tower crew availability and most crews are working on towers across the country due to repack deadlines. The crew we have here is doing us a favor and rescheduled another job in order to make KDSM a priority. We also needed to wait for replacement parts to arrive on Monday and Tuesday morning. This is a weather dependent repair and we are hoping that that this can be resolved today. We will continue to update you as the situation progresses. Thank you for your patience.”
Emergency crews were called to 14723 NW 2nd St. around 10:50 a.m. on a report that someone had fallen from the KDSM tower. Lt. Heath Osberg with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office confirms a tower worker who was doing repairs fell to the ground.
Why the worker fell is still being investigated.
Lt. Osberg did not know the specific safety regulations tower workers must abide by but says “it is dangerous work whatever the weather is,” reports WHOTV.
The Medical Examiner has been called to the scene.
THECOUNT.COM has learned the tower is owned and operated by American Tower Corporation, a telecommunications service provider.
Geo quick facts: Alleman is a city in Polk County, Iowa, United States. The population was 432 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Des Moines–West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area – Wikipedia.