The beacon, restored last fall by the Lake County Public Services Department, has shorted out and is awaiting repair, according to Public Services Director Kim Clymire.
Clymire said the new light, installed on top of the tower on Buckingham Peak last Oct. 13, went off on Jan. 15.
He said fixing the beacon requires a climber certified to scale the 120-foot tall communication tower.
Such a climb costs around $800 to $1,000, Clymire said.
“Instead of paying that every time we need to do maintenance on the tower, I have decided to send county staff to a two-day 'tower climbing certified training' class that is being held next week in Sacramento at a cost of around $2,000 for the class, climbing equipment and an overnight stay,” Clymire said.
He said he and his Public Services staff had been waiting for the class to be held before repairing the light.
Clymire said they expect to have the beacon repaired this month.
The beacon was off from the fall of 2006 until last October, when a new $2,500 beacon was installed on top of the tower. On its tower-top perch, the beacon sits at an elevation of 4,172 feet mean sea level, as Lake County News has reported.
The light has been a county fixture for decades.
Public Services reported that the beacon originally was used to comply with a Federal Communications Commission regulation for the old Lake County TV tower on the top of Mt. Konocti, and also has been used by the Lake County Sheriff’s Marine Patrol Division to signal water skiers when they are supposed to be off of the water.
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