Albuquerque –

At approximately 8:55 a.m., 911 received a call about a balloon that crashed into the KKOB radio tower near 2nd St NW and Diers Rd. NW. The exact address is 10511 2ND ST NW. Twenty years ago on Thursday, the Smokey Bear balloon also crashed into this tower.

The balloonists who hit the tower are fine. They told the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) and Albuquerque Fire Rescue (AFR) that they were not injured and that they refused transport to the hospital.

Based on what we’ve heard so far, it appears that at least one tower has been damaged and one has collapsed, although the information could change as radio reports have been conflicting. Early radio messages and calls to authorities suggested that a tower had collapsed. However, when an AFR unit first arrived on scene, they said they only discovered a power line failure. Another AFR unit arrived and reported finding a collapsed tower. This unit requested the BCSO to establish a perimeter around the tower. The second tower with the damaged line was considered stable and AFR will not be evacuating any homes at this time.

KKOB Radio owns the towers and shut everything down, resulting in KKOB being off the air. PNM is also on site.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and New Mexico State Police (NMSP) will be handling the crash investigation.

A reporter is on site and we will update you as soon as we learn more.

Towards the end of the video you can see the tower collapsing.