Fall Zone Rigging Plan Hits the Mark

When Anoka, MN-based Rothmeyer TEC started preparing for a 300’ tower decommissioning project, they turned to Engineered Tower Solutions for a fall zone rigging plan.

“We had a public road to one side of the tower that was only 150’ from the base, so we needed to ensure that the tower drop zone was clear of that,” said Nick Fiedler, a construction manager at Rothmeyer. “We also needed to avoid the tower access road and a facility building, so we were looking for a fall zone plan that would minimize any risk of the tower falling where we didn’t want it to fall.”

Jeff Arthur, the construction engineering division manager at ETS, prepared the fall zone rigging plan, which called for increasing the tension on fall-side guy wires and then cutting the away-side cable.

“We were able to model a fall zone that met the customer’s requirements and were delighted to get a call and some pictures showing that the tower fell almost exactly where we had planned,” he said.

Rothmeyer’s Fielder was delighted with the result, noting how close the tower fell to the planned location.

“That was a 100% perfect drop in my book,” said Fielder. “It was within 6” of where we wanted it. Absolutely stellar.”

Contact us today if you’d like to learn more about Engineering Tower Solutions and its full-service capabilities, including rigging and gin pole certifications.