Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
ANDY MAKEY, lighting technician, points out the blackened remains of the main electronic control module responsible for controlling the 70 different lights in the theater. A replacement loaner was en route Thursday from Madison, Wis. The theater will not be able to conduct a full assessment of the damage until the module is replaced and powered up, allowing the rest of the lights to get turned on and dimmed.
By IAN MINIELLY
Ironwood - Monday's lightning storm across the Gogebic Range did more than knock out the Daily Globe's press and interrupt power to around 3,200 Upper Peninsula Power Company customers.
Bruce Greenhill, managing director of the Historic Ironwood Theatre, discovered the theater's lighting system took a jolt. He went to hang Christmas decorations for the Ironwood band concert scheduled for today and the lights would not come on.
Andy Makey and Tyler Saari, lighting technicians for the theater, arrived on scene and began the process of discovery. Makey and Saari followed the circuits and found the head control unit responsible for controlling the lights and their dimming was burned.
From their investigation, Makey and Saari found where electricity had arced within the electronic control module, frying the unit and its internal fuses, while leaving black scorch marks.
Additional damage was found upstream in another power box where the electricity jumped, looking for an escape route, nearly fusing two pieces of metal together, which Makey showed the Globe Thursday afternoon.
During the course of the discussion, Greenhill said the show will go on. The stage has enough lighting from the fluorescent work lights for the concert today, so the theater is not utterly reliant upon the repairs. The lighting will just not be as dynamic, said Greenhill.
The theater is expecting a loaner unit from Theatre Controls in Madison and once the loaner is reinstalled, the rest of the damage can be investigated because right now they cannot even see what other damage may or may not exist because the mother unit is down.
The mother unit costs about $2,000 and needs to be replaced, while the 70 dimming units cost $7,000 to $8,000. The dimming units did not appear damaged, with the ECM taking the brunt of the hit.
Greenhill said the Downtown Art Place had some minor damage and Constantini's store was also struck.
Cheri Constantini said the electricity came in through the phone line, frying it and disrupting phone service. The strike also damaged the furnace. Constantini said both units were already repaired, but they will have to wait until the summer to find out if the air conditioning was also damaged.
The theater and businesses were affected by a lightning strike around 8 p.m. Monday, when a loud boom shook the Daily Globe offices and disabled the press as the Tuesday paper was being produced.
