Most of The Netherlands left without radio after two large radio towers catch fire and collapse in space of two days

Southgate Arc
Sun, 17 Jul 2011 02:50 UTC

Two broadcast masts in different parts of the Netherlands have caught fire, one has collapsed.

On July 15 a fire caused a broadcast tower 303.5 metres high to collapse in Hoogersmilde NE Netherlands. On the night of July 14 a fire occurred at a similar 366.8 metre high tower in Lopik central Netherlands resulting in that tower being shut down.

It has been reported that terrestrial FM and Digital TV signals to 80% of the Netherlands were lost.

Watch the YouTube video of the Smilde collapse:

Read a Blog commenting on the events

Read the BBC report

Wiki - Zendstation Smilde

Wiki - Gerbrandy Tower

Comment: Two towers going down in the space of two days has obviously got people in The Netherlands wondering 'who done it'. Far from it being a conspiracy of 'terrorists' or anyone else, we rather suspect that a build-up of electrical energy is the culprit. Ryan X noted the surge in exploding transformers earlier this summer:

Exploding Transformers - More than meets the eye?