Click on image below to watch an updated news report on the turbine collapse at the Fenner wind farm.
Turbine collapse draws concern from other proposed project areas
FENNER, N.Y. (WKTV) - Local residents are wondering if one wind turbine could collapse in Madison County, then it is very possible for a turbine to fall anywhere.
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Watch The Video Fairfield resident Jim Salamone thinks why couldn't it happen in his back yard.
Salamone, who is opposed to the proposed wind turbine projects in Fairfield says he was not surprised when he woke up to find out a wind turbine had collapsed in Fenner. He says the meteorological tower that used to be right across from his home already collapsed because of wind and ice.
Meteorological towers are used to measure wind in areas where developers want to put turbines. Salamone says the meteorological tower that collapsed near his home was the third one to do so in as many years.
Salamone says he wonders if those towers can collapse so easily, and if a tall turbine can also collapse how safe is his property living so close to a proposed site.
"They must be 1250 feet from your house, 500 feet from the road. So if a 476 foot wind turbine comes down 500 feet from the road that is only going to leave you, what 24 feet (that) if the blade breaks that is has to travel before it could go through your car." said Salamone.
Salamone says he is not opposed to a wind turbine project if they are put in the right place, but he says the rolling hills near most homes in Fairfield, is not the right location for large turbines.
TURBINE FALLS AT FENNER WIND FARM
WSYR-TV [Click here to read at source and watch news clip]
Fenner, Madison County (WSYR-TV) – A turbine at the Fenner wind farm has toppled, and engineers are on the scene trying to figure out how it happened.
The tower, which is more than 300 feet long from the base to the tip of the blade, is located just off Buyea Road, and is one of 20 generating electricity.
"I was turning over in bed and it sounded like a big clap of thunder" said Jill Van Allen, who lives across the street. "I was waiting to see the lightning through my bedroom window (but didn't)".
Fenner Town Supervisor Russ Cary was notified by company officials at Enel North America, which owns the farm. He tells us Enel did not have any answers as to how it happened, but adds, the towers were built a distance away from homes for this very reason-that if they collapse, they won't do any harm.
From another news story:
Officials investigating why 187 ton windmill collapsed in Fenner
QUOTE: "Bob Stinson, a resident of South Road nearly two miles from Turbine 18, said it sounded like "a sonic boom" when the windmill toppled.
"I felt it. It shook the house. It woke me up," Stinson said."
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