Nikola Tesla's Historic Wardenclyffe Lab Site At Risk After Devastating Fire

Jennifer Ouellette reports via Ars Technica: Back in 2012, a crowdfunding effort on Indigogo successfully raised the funds necessary to purchase the Wardenclyffe Tower site on Long Island, New York, where Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla once tried to build an ambitious wireless transmission station. The goal was to raise additional funds to build a $20 million Tesla Science Center there, with a museum, an educational center, and a technological innovation program. The nonprofit group behind the project finally broke ground this April after years of basic restoration work -- only to experience a devastating setback last week, two days before Thanksgiving, when a fire broke out.

Over 100 firefighters from 17 local departments responded and battled the flames throughout the night, as residual embers led to two additional outbreaks. One firefighter sustained bruised ribs after falling off a ladder, but there were no other injuries or fatalities. Once the blaze was extinguished, the TSC group called in their engineers to assess the damage and make recommendations for repairs. While an investigation is ongoing as to the cause of the fire, Fire Chief Sean McCarrick said during a press conference on Tuesday, November 28, that they had ruled out arson. According to project architect Mark Thaler, there was nothing flammable in the lab that could have caused the fire, although the back buildings had wood-frame roofs. The original brick building, designed by Stanford White, is still standing, although there is considerable damage to the structure of the roof, steel girders, chimney, cupola, and a portion of a wall. Some elements have been irreparably destroyed, but fortunately all museum artifacts in TSC's collection were stored offsite. The most pressing concern is that water from the firehoses saturated the brick walls, according to Thaler, since the upcoming colder winter temperatures could freeze that moisture and cause the brick work to break apart and collapse. The engineers have also recommended adding strategic wall supports to both the interior and exterior to shore up the structure.

All of this comes with a hefty price tag: $3 million for immediate remediation to seal the roof and dry the building in order to stave off further damage. The building was insured, but that insurance won't come close to covering the cost. The TSC group has set up a 60-day Indiegogo campaign to raise those funds, which is separate from the $14 million it had already raised toward their targeted $20 million goal. "The best way to help right now is to donate if you can," said TSC Executive Director Marc Alessi. "We've never needed it more. We need to secure this lab, stop the water intrusion and future damage. And then we need to complete this project." [...] "Buildings burn down and can then be rebuilt," said John Gaiman, deputy county executive for Suffolk County. "The ideas behind them, the person, the history, the narrative that was created over 100 years ago still exists, and that will continue."

Obligatory Meme

[ElizabethGreene]

If I had a nickel for every time there was an unexplained Tesla lab fire, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

Re:

[Narcocide]

Yea, that's exactly what I was thinking.

Tesla cars ...

[PPH]

... carry on in the fine tradition of their namesake.

Re:

[ShanghaiBill]

... carry on in the fine tradition of their namesake.

I know you're joking, but gasoline cars are more than 20 times more likely to catch fire than EVs.

EV fires are "news" because they are rare, not because they are common.

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[chas.williams]

But you can extinguish a gasoline fire. Try to put out a burning battery.

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[Immerman]

Gasoline fires also spread rapidly, and are prone to explosions if they reach the gas tank. Unless you've got someone on-site when the fire starts, with the skills and equipment to fight a gasoline fire quickly and effectively, you're likely to have a big problem.

Battery fires generally don't threaten anything except the car and anything in its immediate vicinity. As long as you can get out, and the car isn't in a garage, it's not really a big problem. Especially since most new EVs now have sufficiently

Re:

[wyHunter]

Explosions of gasoline powered cars can, of course, happen, but it is extremely rare, except in the movies.

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[LazarusQLong]

having been in several car fires (performance vehicles in test with air cleaners removed) I have NEVER been near one that exploded, because, well... the amount of gasoline vapor you need to create an explosion is much more than the space available in a full or nearly full gas tank. That's why you almost never see car explosions when there is a fire. But hey, Hollywood loves big flaming explosions which is why they always show them (even when showing a C4 explosion, which NEVER has flame unless it is coincid

Oughta be a law...

[kackle]

After seeing local historic buildings, and then Notre Dame, burn, each caused while "someone was working it", I thought the local fire department should be on-site when any historic building is being worked on. If they're just sitting around the firehouse as it is, why not have someone at the building (a second set of eyes at least) to prevent such tragedies?

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[quetwo]

I mean, there are hundreds of remediation projects going on at any given moment (particularly in the NE where buildings are older), and those projects tend to span /years/ if not decades.

The reason why firefighters stay at firehouses is because they are strategically located within a municipality and have the best coverage. It also allows them to be on the ready, get proper tone-outs and have the ability to have all their gear ready for calls. If they are remote, they may not be on the ready for calls.

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[wyHunter]

Not to mention outside urban districts, firefighting is volunteer. I don't know where the lab is, or the state of the department in the area, but outside of things like the five boroughs of NYC, and other big cities, typically departments are volunteer. I see the tower is near Shoreham, Long Island and looking at the Rocky Point Fire Department site, they look to be a volunteer department. So this can slow down responses, of course, because you still haver lives, may not be home in the area, etc.

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[kackle]

I see your point. Maybe there's not a binary answer: One firefighter stays there once a week? Or a single firefighter is there every day? Or perhaps mandatory inspections? Again, in my tiny town, this has happened 2 or 3 times, once with a death. 150-year old buildings are now gone and one fatality; isn't that what the fire department is supposed to prevent if possible?

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[quetwo]

In my mind, the right solution would be for the contractors to be trained in basic firefighting skills and be able to take care of the issues before they become big issues requiring a call out to the department.

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[kackle]

Of course, but self-policing, especially in that kind of industry, will always be suspect. I think expert eyes would trounce anything else, especially when there's an incentive for the contractors to cut the corners for profit.

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[LazarusQLong]

i have met too many drunk contractor's on site working away to trust that solution.

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[smithmc]

Would you also advocate putting a police officer in every store, bank, and home, in case someone might commit a crime there?

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[kackle]

That's not feasible. Idle firefighters can be redeployed, is all that I'm saying here. Further, you can't get back a centuries-old building, unlike bank cash and shoplifted items.

Wireless

[JBMcB]

People freak out about cell towers transmitting at a few dozen watts. Can you imagine giant electrical towers pumping out hundreds of thousands of watts? I mean, that's if omnidirectional long-range power distribution would ever work, which it wouldn't.

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[smithmc]

I guess you've never heard of FM radio stations?

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[LazarusQLong]

or AM.

Musk?

[SuperDre]

Maybe Musk should put some money into it, as one of his companies is using the Tesla name. It would be peanuts for him, AND, the people doing this project actually also want to try to get the Tesla wireless energy tower restored and functional, so it would be really be something for Musk to put some money (and maybe even technical advise through SpaceX/Tesla/Boring).