LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]




Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Turbine goes up in flames 

Credit:  By John Mangalonzo | Abilene Reporter-News | August 19, 2013 | www.reporternews.com ~~

Black smoke was highly visible between Trent and Sweetwater Monday as a wind turbine at the Trent Wind Farm caught fire.

Sweetwater Fire Chief Grant Madden said crews from his department and from the Trent Volunteer Fire Department were sent to the location just south of Interstate 20 and east of Lake Sweetwater at 10 a.m.

“There was no need for us to go up in the turbine so we didn’t,” Madden said. “We stayed well enough away and controlled the grass fires from the falling embers and fiberglass.”

Fire officials aren’t sure whether the cause of the fire was an overheated bearing on the motor or an electrical problem, but Madden said “normally it’s a bearing.”

The wind farm is owned by GE Power, Madden said.

“They (GE officials) won’t know for a while (what caused the fire) because they wait until it cools down and check the structural stability before they even go up (the turbine).” Madden said. “The fire went down a hill a little bit. It was right on the edge of the mesa so the wind did blow some of the fiberglass down a little bit on the face of the hill there.”

Due to recent rains, the area was not too dry and firefighters were able to contain the blaze to a small area.

“We don’t get near the turbine when it’s burning because pieces fall off and sometimes big pieces fall off,” Madden pointed out. “I doubt it was two acres that burned. If it all burned underneath, there probably would have been about an acre-and-a-half to two acres, but I doubt seriously that even one acre burned.”

In October 2011, volunteer firefighters from the Elm Creek Citizens Association, Buffalo Gap and View put out a wind turbine blaze, which fire officials said sparked a grass fire in the Callahan Divide Wind Energy Center. The fire was the second turbine blaze in the area during that time.

West Texas has more than 2,000 wind turbines, and the number continues to increase as development costs fall and wind turbine technology improves. More than $1 billion in new investment is pending for 2013 construction.

The fire Monday was limited to a single turbine. The last firetruck left the scene some three hours after the initial call.

No injuries were reported.

Burning fragments fall from a wind turbine on the Trent Wind Farm Monday. The fire could be seen from Interstate 20 and seemed to burn out after an hour.   Ronald W. Erdrich/Reporter-News

Burning fragments fall from a wind turbine on the Trent Wind Farm Monday. The fire could be seen from Interstate 20 and seemed to burn out after an hour.
Ronald W. Erdrich/Reporter-News

Light shines through the burned-out module of a wind turbine (second from left) on the Trent Wind Farm Monday. Shortly before 11 a.m., the turbine caught fire and could be seen burning from Interstate 20.   Ronald W. Erdrich/Reporter-News

Light shines through the burned-out module of a wind turbine (second from left) on the Trent Wind Farm Monday. Shortly before 11 a.m., the turbine caught fire and could be seen burning from Interstate 20.
Ronald W. Erdrich/Reporter-News

Source:  By John Mangalonzo | Abilene Reporter-News | August 19, 2013 | www.reporternews.com

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share

Tags: Accidents, Photos


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon