ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A hot air balloon knocked over a radio tower west of Balloon Fiesta Park Friday morning.

According to the FAA, three people were on board, including the pilot. They were able to safely land after hitting the tower.

Balloon Fiesta told KOB 4 the balloon hit one of the guy wires connected to the tower, causing it to collapse.

William Harris with Bernalillo County Fire and Rescue told us they’re reviewing video to find out exactly what happened.

PNM shut off the power from the tower that collapsed. But, while it was on, residents within a 1,000-foot radius had to be evacuated.

Harris told us when he got on scene, he was thinking the worst case scenario. But he was happy to see no one needed an extensive rescue.

“With all things considered, I think we were very lucky on how this ended today. There is a collapse of a very, a monetary substantial, a substantial monetary value of this tower. However, the people with no loss of life and no injuries,” said Harris. 

Balloon Fiesta reps told us balloon number 28 was the one that crashed, and that belongs to Foolish Pleasure hot air balloon rides from Tuscon, Arizona. It’s called Blue Moon, and it’s registered under Dan Ewer. Right now, we don’t know if he was piloting the balloon.

We reached out to their office but haven’t heard back. We also spoke to a neighbor nearby who didn’t hear the tower crash but heard all of the emergency vehicles responding.

“I figured something bad happened. I actually thought it was a fire at first, because, you know, it’s dry, and the balloons are crashing. So I thought maybe something caught on fire with a power line or something. So I didn’t really realize it was the tower and, you know, they had hit the tower again. So, yeah, it was scary,” said Annette Santiago-Kitts who lives nearby the balloon crash. 

New Mexico State Police, the FAA and the NTSB are taking over the investigation. The FAA says the agency typically posts a preliminary report the next business day.