1,980-foot TV tower collapse in Webster County; 1 dead, several injured, officials say

A TV tower in Webster County collapsed Thursday morning, killing a man and injuring several other people, according to the Logan-Rogersville Fire Protection District.

The tower was used to broadcast KOZK Ozarks Public Television, according to a spokeswoman for Missouri State University.

Webster County Sheriff Roye Cole said Stephen Lemay, 56, of Washington state was killed while working on the tower that collapsed.

Assistant Chief Rob Talburt said 50 to 60 emergency workers from multiple agencies responded to the tower collapse at 905 State Highway FF.

Previous tower collapse: Ice brought down another Fordland tower 17 years ago

Talburt said just before 10 a.m., six workers were performing routine maintenance on the 1,980-foot-tall tower when it went down.

At 11 a.m., Talburt said officials were still not sure what caused the tower collapse.

The workers were about 105 feet high at the time of the collapse, Talburt said.

One worker was trapped and killed, Talburt said, and the five other workers suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

"It's very lucky that we didn't have more fatalities out here," Talburt said.

Andrea Mostyn, spokeswoman for Missouri State University, briefed reporters at the scene of the incident.

Mostyn said MSU owns the tower and uses it to broadcast KOZK Ozarks Public Television.

Mostyn said the university contracted with a company to perform work on the tower. She said she was not sure how long the crew had been working on the tower.

MSU spokeswoman Suzanne Shaw said the workers were installing structural support to accommodate new equipment associated with a channel change.

MSU issued a statement, calling the tower's collapse and the ensuring death a "tragedy."

More: Man killed in Fordland TV tower collapse was 'picture perfect dad'

“We are shocked and saddened by the news,” Shaw said in the statement. “Our condolences go out to the victims and their families. We are also providing support and resources to the other team members affected.”

The statement said there was a crew from the state of Washington working on the tower, three of whom were transported to Springfield for medical evaluation.

Cole, the sheriff, said the workers were replacing crossbeams on the tower.

The sheriff’s office will perform an investigation looking for any possible criminal activity, but Cole said he doesn’t have any reason to believe something criminal occurred.

Talburt, the assistant fire chief, said the surviving workers were in a state of shock when first responders arrived.

John Myers, a structural engineering professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology, said it's extremely rare for any type of structure like a TV tower to collapse without some type of major event, like a hurricane or tornado.

Myers cautioned against speculation but said it appears to him that multiple factors could have contributed to the tower's collapse.

Depending on the age of the tower, there could have been deterioration of the structure, Myers said. He noted that it was significantly windy Thursday. Those factors, in addition to workers actively doing maintenance on the tower, could have led to the collapse, Myers said.

The nearest location to Fordland that the National Weather Service has wind data on is Springfield.

At the time of the tower collapse, wind speeds in Springfield were between 13 and 16 mph, according to the National Weather Service. Meteorologist Jeff Raberding said that's well below what would necessitate a wind advisory.

Wednesday had peak wind speeds of 40 mph in Springfield, according to the National Weather Service. Wind speeds are typically higher with altitude.

Scott Allen, a spokesman for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said Thursday afternoon that a compliance officer was on the way to the collapsed tower to investigate the cause.

Allen identified the crew working on the tower as from TCI Tower Consulting Inc. and said OSHA is concerned about the collapse.

OSHA investigations are required by law to be completed within six months, Allen said.

Large support cables lined the private drive that leads from State Highway FF down to the tower on Thursday morning.

Missouri State says the TV tower was donated to the university by Springfield TV station KY3 in the early 2000s.

Tom Houston, general manager of Webster Electric Co-op, said there were at least five TV, weather and radio towers near Fordland.

The area in Webster County has an elevation of 1,600 feet above sea level, 300 feet higher than Springfield, making it a desirable location for tower transmissions.

Lee Brown lives a couple of miles away from the tower. He said he heard what sounded like a "car crash magnified by 500" when the tower went down.

He said the noise lasted for a few seconds.

Brown said he came to the scene to see if there was anything he could do to help, but first responders had things under control.

Brown said he knows people who work on the towers and the scene was tough to see with all of the mangled metal.

Claudette Riley and Wes Johnson contributed to this report.