Manufacturing, Power / Energy Facility Cheshire, OH – Power plant fire knocked down by sprinklers August 3, 2015 viking210 A small fire was reported around 10 a.m. Thursday at the General James M. Gavin Power Plant in Cheshire. The power plant is owned American Electric Power. According to Tammy Ridout, manager of media relations for AEP, the fire started in the generator step-up transformer, which is what takes the generator voltage and increases it to match the transmission line voltage so that power can leave the plant. The plant is connected to the grid by 765 kilovolt transmission lines — the highest rated voltage in the U.S. Ridout said that Meigs County fire stations, including Middleport, Pomeroy and Rutland fire departments, were called to the scene, but the flames were contained before they arrived. The fire was extinguished by a deluge system, or an activated sprinkler system, she said. There were no injuries reported. Middleport Fire Chief Jeff Darst said the fire occurred in what is known as Unit 2, where the tranformers are kept behind the plant where they can’t be viewed from the road. However, smoke could be seen rising above the plant from passing motorists. Darst said the fire was contained by the Gavin Fire Brigade by the time he and his crew arrived, but that his crew, as well as Pomeroy and Rutland, all helped extinguish the flames.
Manufacturing, Power / Energy Facility Buchanan, NY – Transformer fire at nuclear power plant doused with help from sprinkler system May 10, 2015 viking210 As reported by CNN … a transformer failure at the Indian Point nuclear power plant caused an explosion and fire at the facility Saturday evening, sending billows of black smoke into the air near Buchanan, New York. The fire broke out on the non-nuclear side of the plant, about 200 yards away from the reactor building, according to Entergy spokesman Jerry Nappi. “The fire is out and the plant is safe and stable,” Nappi said. Federal officials said one reactor unit automatically shut down. No one was injured in the blaze. A sprinkler system doused the fire with the help of personnel on the scene, Nappi said. There was “no threat to public safety at any time,” the facility said in a tweet. “All Indian Point emergency systems worked as designed.” Multiple emergency services agencies responded to the explosion at the plant, located approximately 50 miles north of Manhattan, including the Westchester County and New York State Police. “We saw just a huge black ball of smoke right across the river,” witness Gustavus Gricius told CNN. “We could smell the oily, electric burn smell.” Gov. Andrew Cuomo was at the plant and received a briefing on the accident. He called the incident “relatively minor” but added, “these situations we take very seriously. This is a nuclear-powered plant; it’s nothing to be trifled with.” The blast sent the facility into an emergency response situation classified as an “unusual event,” according to Nappi. The event was declared at 5:50 p.m. and the fire was out by 6:15 p.m. Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said the agency had three inspectors respond. “They’re cooling down the reactor and we’ll have to investigate the cause of the fire,” he said. The facility houses two nuclear reactor units and produces approximately 25% of the electricity for New York City and Westchester County, according to its website.
Manufacturing, Power / Energy Facility Sprinkler system puts out fire at nuclear power plant (Shippingport, PA) November 8, 2013 viking210 A nuclear power plant had an explosion as well as an electrical wiring fire occur on the evening of Tuesday, November 5. No one was injured, and the plant did not need to be evacuated; the plant did shut down to assess the incident. The plant’s fire sprinkler system, a deluge system, put out the fire, and the reactor at the plant was manually shut down. The exact cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Manufacturing, Power / Energy Facility Commercial fire contained by sprinkler system (Waseca, MN) September 4, 2012 viking210 A fire inside Emerson Network Power was contained to an assembly room. “The sprinkler system did its job,” Waseca Fire Chief Gary Conrath said. No one was working in the building when the fire apparently started in an electric panel box. So, if the alarm and sprinkler system hadn’t been working properly, the fire could have spread quickly through the large plant.
