Weather operations returning to normal atop Mount Washington a week after fire

A week after the fire on the Mount Washington summit, heat and power have been restored in the Sherman Adams Building, which is home to Mount Washington State Park and Mount Washington Observatory. "We're getting our weather observations done, and that's what we are here to do," said Andrea Grant on Sunday. "It's just a lot tougher now that we need to worry about keeping the heat and power going, but we're staying on top of things.""The summit community is working cooperatively to next restore heat and power to Yankee Building, which will enable safety services to resume communications," Amy Bassett, of N.H. Department of Resources and Economic Development, said in a release issued yesterday. "The Mount Washington Auto Road's expertise and assistance has been instrumental in the effort. The key element has been personnel like Joe Gilheeney, whose mechanical freelancing has been invaluable. He has ingeniously devised a method of obtaining fuel from the tank farm. A constant flow of fuel from the tank farm, located hundreds of yards from the summit and holding almost 100,000 gallons of fuel, was crucial to the overall efforts."Temporary generators were delivered to the remote mountaintop facility to restore heat and electricity soon after the fire. On Friday, fuel was rerouted away from the burned out buildings and into furnaces in the Sherman Adams Building, providing access to thousands of gallons of kerosene and assuring stable heat. The observatory occupies the western end of the Sherman Adams Building. According to Scot Henley, of Mount Washington Observatory, while power and heat have been restored, other problems persist for the summit crew. Phone service may not be restored for weeks at the summit and so the weather observers are using cellular phones to call in their hourly reports to National Weather Service. Verizon has donated four additional cell phones for the Observatory to use while a more permanent telecommunications solution is developed. "Observatory staff are currently working on a wireless Internet link between its summit and valley locations, which could bring more reliable phone service to the summit," Henley stated in a press release. "The wireless link may be the key to restoring weather data and the popular network of Internet 'webcams' featured on the Observatory's website." Bassett said work this week will focus on restoring heat and limited power to Yankee Building. Plans, purchases, and logistics are underway for transportation of two 200KW generators to the summit in the immediate future. These generators will provide full primary power to the summit of Mount Washington. In the meantime, the Observatory hopes to resume its popular EduTrip program as early as this Saturday. EduTrips allow Observatory members to visit the summit in winter to take part in overnight educational programs. "We're really hoping we can get our EduTrips back online," said Observatory Executive Director John Hammer. "Obviously safety is our number one concern and we will only restart that program if things are stable up there." A true sign of restoring normalcy to the summit will be the return of the Observatory's feline mascot, Nin. The cat was evacuated from the mountain immediately after the fire and has been spending time with staff in the Valley. "We're looking to bring Nin back to his home on the summit this week," said Ken Rancourt, Director of Research. "That's where he belongs."Rich McLeod, director of N.H. Division of Parks and Recreation, paid a special visit to the Mount Washington Auto Road's general manager, Howie Wemyss, Monday to express the state's gratitude. "The auto road's cooperation has been extraordinary, and crucial in the progress that has been made," he said. "We would not have made nearly as much progress without this type of team work."