News 
 Local News 
 News 
 General 
 Waubra policy to let turbine fires burn out 

Waubra policy to let turbine fires burn out

20 Nov, 2010 12:00 AM
Waubra wind farm operator Acciona has confirmed a policy of allowing fires in turbines to burn out.

Director of generation Brett Wickham said the height of turbine poles, about 80 metres, precluded safe fire fighting.

"We stand back and wait until it burns out," he said.

But a CFA spokesperson said its fire fighters were responsible for responding to all fires, including at wind farms.

This included fires inside turbines and on adjacent land, and rescuing people trapped inside towers, the spokesman said.

Mr Wickham, however, said it was possible to fight a small turbine fire but "in most circumstances we wouldn't send anyone in".

He said his company had worked with the CFA on a bushfire mitigation plan which included ground clearing around the base of each turbine and clearance from substations and overhead lines.

Mr Wickham said the company had spent $25,000 on creating a rapid fill capability for water tanks at its Waubra maintenance facility, for use by local fire trucks.

And with 24/7 monitoring of turbine temperatures, Mr Wickham said Acciona personnel would respond quickly to any fire alert.

Mr Wickham said the CFA and other emergency services would be onsite at Waubra this weekend undertaking exercises.

He called turbine fires "extremely rare". His comments come after a wind turbine fire at the Starfish Hill Wind Farm, near Cape Jervis, in South Australia.

Local fire fighters could do little but watch the blaze from half a kilometre away as the situation was deemed too dangerous to approach, according to a local report.

On arrival, WorkSafe officers then ordered fire fighters a further 500 metres away as burning tips of the blades were flying off from the structure.

South Australian country fire crews have been told by management little can be done in the event of a wind turbine fire because of the threat it poses to officers, according to the report.

The Starfish Hill turbine collapsed following the fire.

Print
Increase Text Size
Decrease Text Size

comments


Date: Newest first | Oldest first
Instead of inventing "the wheel again" why not ask and look at other countries to see how they deal with these situations. Then adopt their practice. It never ceases to amaze me that all different Australian authorities always want to invent their own "wheel" instead of looking around Australia and the world to see how other people do things.
Posted by how do other people do it, 20/11/2010 6:46:01 AM, on The Ballarat Courier
What would happen on a hot day with a strong north wind, embers, burning oil etc would be spread over a wide area.

Wind farms are often in areas hard to access.

Acciona say fires are rare, but there have been 3 in SA light up in the last 5 years, there should be more clearing around a perimeter of at least 1km so no fires can get away.

Posted by mick, 20/11/2010 7:11:17 AM, on The Ballarat Courier
I have not observed the turbines being shut down on a Total Fire Ban day. Does Brett Wickham seriously believe that a fire at 80 metres will be confined to the cleared base of the turbines on a hot high wind day? If the debris was flung so that the firefighters had to be at a 1km exclusion zone, what risk does this present to the neighbours and CFA volunteers? A fire in a turbine might be rare but so were the events of Black Saturday.
Posted by Joan Dark, 20/11/2010 8:22:51 AM, on The Ballarat Courier
Another reason to have wind farms at sea.
Posted by Bedlam, 20/11/2010 10:37:39 AM, on The Ballarat Courier
Well well, that's exactly what wind power said about turbines in their ill fated tuki wind farm fisco.

"watch it burn!"

Posted by Eric Wrght, 20/11/2010 12:27:56 PM, on The Ballarat Courier
Turbine fires "rare"? Is the CFA joking?

There have been at least 3 already in Australia. Dozens overseas. Aust. turbines are new. We can expect more fires as they age. Each contains over 4900 litres of oil and numerous moving parts. And we have high summer temps.

A recipe for disaster.

Posted by Frank Campbell, 20/11/2010 12:51:20 PM, on The Ballarat Courier
Brendan Gullifer is a breathe of fresh air! Well done Courier congrats
Posted by Edna, 20/11/2010 1:00:01 PM, on The Ballarat Courier
what will happen on high fire risk days? Brumby has a real mess with these instillations
Posted by Martin Jones, 20/11/2010 1:01:10 PM, on The Ballarat Courier
I must admit i wouldnt be to keen on fighting a fire around turbines.

if it were windy it could be a real disaster, especially in rocky ground where its hard to get a truck into.

I also believe like one of the above said that the turbines should not operate on total fire ban days, no responsible farmer operates machinery on tfb days, i would think any moving machinery like a turbine should do the same and shut down until safer conditions prevail.

I suspect our city based planners didnt even think of this scenario!

Posted by cfa, 20/11/2010 1:47:37 PM, on The Ballarat Courier
"4900" litres of oil is a misprint, sorry. Should be 400.
Posted by frank Campbell, 20/11/2010 3:07:56 PM, on The Ballarat Courier
1 | 2  |  next >

post a comment


Screen name  *
Email address  *
Remember me?
Comment  *
 
We invite and encourage our readers to post comments. Comments are moderated and will appear as soon as our editor has approved them. When posting comments you agree to be bound by our Terms and Conditions.

Most popular articles


Her Majesty's NIE
 
Loreto College NIE


The Courier







Weather brought to you by:

Weatherzone

Front Page

Current Issue
Privacy Policy | Conditions of Use | Advertising Terms | Copyright © 2012. Fairfax Media.
 SEND...
 SAVE...
 SHARE...