Power plant restarts after shutdown due to coal fire
Xcel Energy, contractors continuing efforts to extinguish fire in storage facility
Xcel Energy was bringing the Pawnee Power Plant back online Monday, after a coal fire in a storage facility at the plant caused it to be shut down on Friday.
According to an emailed statement provided by Xcel spokeswoman Michelle Aguayo, the plant was expected to be generating power again by Tuesday. Employees who were evacuated Friday when the coal fire became out of control returned to work on Monday to prepare for operations to resume.
The Morgan County Sheriff’s Office said in written updates over the weekend that traditional fire suppression efforts were not working and had been suspended, and that the fire response had been turned over to Xcel Energy and its contractors.
“We are grateful to the community partners and responders who have assisted with this fire and will continue to work closely with them moving for ward,” Aguayo’s statement reads. “Efforts to extinguish the fire will continue, and the plant can be safety reopened while that work continues.”
The fire in the coal storage area, which is separate from the main plant, started July 14, according to Brush Volunteer Fire Department Assistant Chief Ray Uhrick. BVFD was notified of the blaze on July 19 and began suppression efforts, with vacuum
trucks employed to try to remove coal from the storage facility. They were joined by several other area fire departments, as well as the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control.
According to Uhrick, there were 23,000 tons of coal in the storage facility, and the conveyor belt needed to move the coal outside the building was inoperable and awaiting a part for repair.
An MCSO update over the weekend said that air monitoring stations were being set up in Brush and Fort Morgan.
Road closures related to the fire on Morgan County Road 24 and MCR Q have been lifted, the MCSO announced Sunday.