Mount Lukens

DSI goes above and beyond to support a city’s most critical operations in its most challenging environment.

The City of Los Angeles Emergency Management Department has several remote mountain radio antenna tower locations, including Mount Lukens. These sites are highly critical for a few reasons, but none more important than for broadcasting emergency radio transmissions. Each site requires various electrical reliability systems depending on the site’s specifications.

The Mount Lukens site required an 80kVA UPS replacement due to the existing UPS nearing its end of life.

The Challenge:

Data Specialties Inc. was challenged with the opportunity to install a new 80kVA UPS at the City of Los Angeles Emergency Management Department’s Mount Lukens site.

Mount Lukens, located in the Angeles National Forest, is 5,075’ in elevation and its remote location makes access difficult. The only way to access the site by vehicle is by the Mt. Lukens Truck Trail Road, classified by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) as a Maintenance Level 1 road—a closed, single-lane, unpaved, low-speed road designed for high clearance vehicles. As depicted in the map, the road begins at Highway 2 (Angeles Crest Highway) near USFS Station #11.

While the distance is a mere 7.3 miles in, it takes approximately 45 minutes in travel time. In addition to the rugged terrain and the challenge of daily travel to and from the site, delivering new equipment to the site was not ideal and created additional project complexity.

The Solution:

Through collaboration and close communication with the City of Los Angeles’ Special Projects Team, DSI traveled daily to the Mount Lukens site to make provisions for the installation. Throughout the project, this collaborative effort ensured that DSI was always able to maintain safety and efficiency.

DSI also worked closely with the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, Angeles Crest USFS Special Uses, and Los Angeles County Public Works departments to strategize a plan. The execution of this plan required utilizing a Huey UH-1 utility military helicopter to airlift all new equipment from the base of the mountain, via the Dunsmuir Debris Basin at 2,150’ in elevation.

To successfully transport and stage the equipment and for occupying air space within the Angeles National Forest, DSI obtained several specialty permits from the listed agencies. In addition, this project required coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for flight path approvals and airlift date confirmations.

Once all parties concerned were satisfied with the lift plan, it was only left up to the weather. With weather in our favor, DSI was able to utilize specialty rigging at both lift locations to ensure proper equipment handling and successfully deliver all new equipment safely to the site.

Once the equipment arrived at the Mount Lukens site, DSI moved forward with the installation. Due to the existing electrical systems configuration, DSI developed a strategy that allowed for the installation of a temporary UPS to which the critical load could be shifted from the existing UPS, and then returned to the new UPS once installed. This allowed for the critical load to stay online the entire time, with no interruptions to Mount Lukens critical emergency radio transmissions.

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