Donald Ohse, W5DRO, discusses how routine site maintenance can improve reliability, safety and wildfire resilience
At its August 26, 2026 meeting, SBE Chapter 85 welcomed Donald Ohse, W5DRO, Assistant Chief Engineer at KFOR-TV, for a presentation on an often overlooked part of broadcast engineering: vegetation maintenance at transmitter and communications sites.
Ohse’s presentation focused on why keeping transmitter sites clear of excessive grass, brush, trees and other vegetation is much more than a matter of appearance. Proper vegetation management can help protect critical broadcast infrastructure, maintain access for technicians, reduce fire hazards and prevent avoidable outages.
One of the central themes of the presentation was that vegetation is a controllable part of wildfire risk. While broadcasters cannot control drought, wind, lightning or where a wildfire starts, they can control the amount of combustible material surrounding their facilities. Removing dead vegetation, keeping grass short and breaking up continuous areas of brush can reduce the amount of fuel available as a fire approaches a site.
Ohse illustrated the point with photographs from a real transmitter site following a wildfire. The images showed a noticeable difference between the maintained area around the facility and the heavier vegetation along the surrounding burned perimeter. The presentation was careful to note that the photos represented field observations rather than a formal fire investigation, but the contrast was consistent with established fuel-reduction principles.
The case study reinforced a simple message: vegetation maintenance is fire protection.
The presentation also looked beyond wildfire prevention. Keeping vegetation under control helps protect virtually every major component of a transmitter facility. Clear areas around buildings can reduce direct flame exposure and maintain access to doors, vents and cable entrances. Electrical equipment, transfer switches, grounding systems, generators, fuel systems, HVAC equipment, tower bases and guy anchors all benefit from being visible, accessible and free from excessive vegetation.
For engineers responding to an outage, accessibility can be just as important as equipment protection. An overgrown access road, hidden guy anchor or brush-covered equipment pad can turn a routine service call into a safety problem, particularly during severe weather, a wildfire or an after-hours emergency.
Ohse stressed that effective maintenance should be measurable rather than simply described as keeping a site "mowed." Grass and weeds should remain short, brush and dead limbs should be removed, roads and gates should remain accessible, and tower foundations, grounding systems and guy anchors should remain visible for inspection. The presentation also recommended documenting site conditions with photographs.
Timing is another important part of the maintenance strategy. Vegetation should be controlled before it becomes tall, dry fuel. A maintenance program may include a baseline spring cleanup, growth control in early summer, additional fuel reduction during the hottest part of the summer, a fall cleanup and inspections following major storms. The frequency may need to change depending on rainfall and growing conditions.
There is also a financial argument for preventive maintenance. Mowing and brush control represent predictable, scheduled expenses. A damaged transmitter site can mean emergency labor, difficult access, generator or electrical repairs, tower inspections and potentially extended time off the air. The objective, as the presentation summarized, is to avoid an avoidable emergency.
The takeaway for Chapter 85 members was straightforward: transmitter-site maintenance should be considered part of the station’s reliability program, not simply groundskeeping.
As Ohse’s presentation concluded, broadcasters cannot control the wildfire, but they can control the fuel surrounding their critical facilities.
Low fuel. Clear access. Better odds.
