Fire in the Hole! Satellite Dish Removal No Easy Task

By Katie Writer

The satellite dish at the end of Comsat Road has been a fixture in Talkeetna for almost 50 years. Its role as a communication tool for the North is as formidable as its structure.

It has been out of service for over twenty years. For some it has been an eyesore, for others a beacon. For various reasons, it had become quite a liability and the time had come for it to be removed. Employees of A T & T, New Horizon Telecom and, most importantly, Alaska Demolition teamed together for a unique formula for success.

On Thursday afternoon, Alaska Demolition took on the job of removing the immense satellite dish. The plan was to weaken the connection points at the base of the structure with explosives. Then, a cable with tension from dozers would assist in the structure to fall backwards. They would then dismember the debris into pieces and the material would then be shipped to the lower forty-eight to a specialized HAZMAT site.

Word travels fast in a small town and with the idea of an explosion at 1 pm, a considerable group gathered on a nearby hillside with tripods, cameras and binoculars.

When the signals sounded, locals cheered, “Fire In The Hole”!

With a boom that was heard even miles away, the visual sight of the dish was not what was expected. The dish tipped, but only slightly. It settled upon itself and it was obvious to everyone that the mission was not accomplished. There it sat, very much intact. The crews worked until the last light of the day removing parts of the structure that were preventing it from toppling over.

On Friday morning, after some more work of removing metal connection points, Steve Alderman of Alaska Demolition revved up his dozer and began to pull on the cables. After so much effort of the previous day’s work, his mojo was flowing this Friday morning and a small crew watched him smoothly rotate it forward and with a plunk, it met its final moment. The Satellite dish was down.