Let there be lights!
Electrical work at Nike Site Summit
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When FONSS began tours of the IFC (Upper Site - Integrated Fire Control) in 2012, the only way we were able to show visitors the inside of the building was by running a noisy portable generator, then using extension cords to a portable flood light in each room. In 2017, the military upgraded its electrical grid which allowed FONSS to use that power to light the building. Doug Ruhl and his crew went into action to run new wire in old electrical conduit and to refurbish 70-year-old lights. A lot of tedious work was involved - the result was lighting throughout the building by 2018.
Next focus: the Launch Control Bunker (Lower Site), a dark, wet, and cavernous space. FONSS would conduct tours from the open door using ambient daylight; it was not safe for tours to enter the building itself. Electrical work started and stopped several times between 2016 and 2019 due to military requirements in the area. A 100-foot electrical line was finally run to the Bunker in 2019. That summer, Doug Ruhl and his lead assistant Richard Goughnour began the incredible job of running new conduit and wire 18 feet to the bunker ceiling to install a total of 16 lights, completing this work in 2023. These super bright lights really opened up the space to visitors.
Just in time for the newest highlight of our tours. FONSS had always dreamed of displaying a missile in the Bunker. In late 2022, FONSS obtained a missile from MATI (Link to missile stories/photos here). In 2023, that missile was re-assembled inside the Launch Control Bunker and tour participants can now get a good, close look at this magnificent artifact of the Cold War. Refurbishing the missile to how it would have looked when Nike Site Summit was operational is on the work crew agenda for 2024. 
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Volunteer Doug Ruhl
Those lights are 18 feet off the ground
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