March 13, 2015
Alaska

Fire traps two on wind turbine in Bering Sea island

Chris Klint, Senior Digital Producer | KTUU-TV | Mar 13, 2015 | www.ktuu.com

A Thursday fire briefly trapped two workers with the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative at the top of a wind turbine in a Western Alaska island village, until residents responded to put out the blaze.

According to a Thursday AST dispatch, troopers were informed about 12:30 p.m. Thursday of the fire in Mekoryuk, a community of about 210 people on Nunivak Island in the Bering Sea nearly 150 miles west of Bethel.

“There was a fire inside the base of the tower and the maintainers could not get out,” troopers wrote. “A number of citizens in Mekoryuk responded to the fire and were able to extinguish the fire. After the smoke cleared inside the wind turbine tower, the two employees were able to get out.”

The workers were taken to the local clinic for observation, but no injuries were reported in the incident.

Troopers say no foul play is suspected in the fire.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/03/13/fire-traps-two-on-wind-turbine-in-bering-sea-island/