February 21, 2014
Indiana

Wind turbine catches fire in Benton County

By Krista Henery | Published: Friday, February 21, 2014 | wlfi.com

A wind turbine in Fowler catches fire in Benton County Friday morning. Witnesses report seeing the turbine shooting flames and sparks from its motor.

The turbine is just off U.S. 52 and County Road 100 South in Benton County. At 6:30 a.m., the Fowler Fire Department dispatched a crew to create a perimeter around the tower.

BP Wind Energy owns the turbine. Fowler Fire Chief Bill Burton said BP told him, whenever this happens, crews should secure the area and not attempt to put the fire out. He said this is something crews are prepared for, but never thought they would see.

“We’ve always been told to just stabilize the area and keep everybody away from it,” said Burton. “It was really close to town, about a mile out. You could see it. It just looked like the fourth of July. There were just sparks going everywhere and flames shooting out.”

Firefighters report it took about 30 minutes for the fire to burnout. No injures have been reported.

BP was unavailable for comment.

wlfi-windturbine-fire

[Click here to see video from Benton Review]


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/02/21/wind-turbine-catches-fire-in-benton-county/