State working to repair cable that raises the flag over Nevada’s Capitol

Crews are working as fast as they can to return the American flag over the state Capitol.

The problem was caused by powerful winds that shook Carson City during recent storms. When security threw the switch to pull the flags down out of the wind, the cable that raises and lowers them snapped.

“The biggest problem is we had such adverse weather,” said Tim Stenger who takes care of the Capitol for Buildings and Grounds.

He and Facilities Supervisor Jon Vietti said with continuing winds and storms it just wasn’t possible to get up there.

Vietti said he’s getting approval to rent a lift so a repair crew can reach the flag pole atop the Capitol dome. One problem is finding a crane that can reach more than 130 feet into the air — the height of the top of that pole. The other is the cost of that rental.

“We’re definitely moving forward on it as fast as we can,” he said.

Vietti said Stenger has everything ready to fix the system but he’s looking at the possibility of rigging an automatic system to lower the flags when winds get too strong.

He said there are systems designed to pull RV awnings in when winds get above 35 mph and he’s confident they can use one of those systems to do the same for the flags, automatically raising them again when the winds decrease.

“I’m pretty sure we can do it,” Vietti said.

He said the wind has been an ongoing problem with those flags because they’re completely exposed to the elements.

“Every other month we replace them and those aren’t little flags,” Vietti said.