Post by toneslider12 on Oct 2, 2007 16:19:30 GMT -5
Clear Creek County Colorado in Georgetown. Explosion and Fire at the hydroelectric power plant. Appoxy based fire 1,000 feet underground with four people trapped. Mutual aid Haz-Mat and Tech Rescue companies from the Denver area responding, this is nearly a 2 hour response for the larger units.
Denver Metro units now getting on scene. 5 wokers trapped 1,000 feet underground and communicating with rescuers. Mine Rescue Team is now responding as well as the Denver Command and Communications unit. This may be a several day long operation.
Update -
GEORGETOWN, Colo. -- Five workers trapped 1,000 feet underground at the Cabin Creek hydroelectric facility have been found dead.
Updating the news media late Tuesday evening, the under sheriff of Clear Creek County Stu Nay said all five workers had died. He did not give specifics but said all five workers bodies had been found.
The president and CEO of Public Service and Xcel Energy confirmed the deaths saying, Xcel expressed its deepest sympathies.
The five workers vecame trapped after a chemical fire ignited in a pipeline Tuesday afternoon.
When the fire was first reported at 2:30 p.m., the trapped workers made radio contact with authorities but were never heard from aftward.
Nine contractors were working inside a water pipe about 1,500 to 2,000 feet below ground, coating it with an epoxy solution to prevent erosion, when a piece of equipment ignited the fire, Groves said.
The pipe, also known as a penstock, is a tube used to transfer water from a lake to the turbines inside the plant.
The fire separated the nine men inside the penstock.
The four below the fire were able to escape, but five workers above the fire were trapped, Groves said.
The fire is about 2,000 feet underground and the workers are about 1,000 feet above the fire, and about 1,050 feet from the entrance of the penstock, Groves said.
There is smoke inside the pipe but officials believe that the workers are able to breathe because crews above ground had dropped oxygen bottles to the workers, Groves said. Fresh air is also being directed to the workers.
"We were able to get them a fresh airflow within about 45 minutes. So there is fresh air flowing into the pipe where they are," she said.
According to Tom Henley, Senior Media Relations Representative for Xcel, "There was communication with the five workers shortly after the fire broke out and there were no reported injuries at that time."
The workers are hunkered down on a temporary platform used to stop water from coming up the pipe while the workers conducted maintenance.
Rescue crews plan to rescue the workers in two steps. First, firefighters from nearby Henderson Mine will come up through the bottom of the pipe to extinguish the fire. The mine rescue team is trained in rescue and fire fighting in a confined space, Grove said.
Then, members of the Alpine Rescue Team will rappel down the pipe from the top and rescue the workers.
The rescue team must wait for the fire to be extinguished before they can move in.
"We have an Alpine Rescue team that is coming down from the top. And then we also have rescue teams that are starting out from the bottom, from the Cabin Creek station. So the two crews are going to work and meet these folks in the middle," Groves said.
The workers do not have the necessary equipment to climb up the pipe.
Groves said they would have to climb about 1,500 feet and then up a 50-foot vertical rise to reach the surface.
The shaft is 48-inches wide and officials did not have an estimate of how long it would take to put the fire out.
Of the four workers who escaped, two were treated for chemical inhalation and one was airlifted to St. Anthony's Central Hospital. Their names have not been released.
According to Georgetown police Officer Nick Borys, about 50 rescue vehicles have gathered on site to assist with the rescue.
"Right now there's a full-blown rescue operation going on," Borys said
The Cabin Creek Power/Hydro Plant, six miles up Guanella Pass Road from Georgetown, is a hydroelectric pumped storage power plant owned and operated by Xcel Energy.
The plant opened in April 1967 and it comprises of two reservoirs where water flows from an upper reservoir to a lower reservoir to turn its generators and create electricity.
The hydroelectric plant generates electricity during peak times of demand by releasing water from one reservoir into a lower reservoir, then pumping the water back to the upper reservoir during non-peak times.
The plant is located at 10,018 feet above sea level and produces 234 megawatts of power.
Denver Metro units now getting on scene. 5 wokers trapped 1,000 feet underground and communicating with rescuers. Mine Rescue Team is now responding as well as the Denver Command and Communications unit. This may be a several day long operation.
Update -
GEORGETOWN, Colo. -- Five workers trapped 1,000 feet underground at the Cabin Creek hydroelectric facility have been found dead.
Updating the news media late Tuesday evening, the under sheriff of Clear Creek County Stu Nay said all five workers had died. He did not give specifics but said all five workers bodies had been found.
The president and CEO of Public Service and Xcel Energy confirmed the deaths saying, Xcel expressed its deepest sympathies.
The five workers vecame trapped after a chemical fire ignited in a pipeline Tuesday afternoon.
When the fire was first reported at 2:30 p.m., the trapped workers made radio contact with authorities but were never heard from aftward.
Nine contractors were working inside a water pipe about 1,500 to 2,000 feet below ground, coating it with an epoxy solution to prevent erosion, when a piece of equipment ignited the fire, Groves said.
The pipe, also known as a penstock, is a tube used to transfer water from a lake to the turbines inside the plant.
The fire separated the nine men inside the penstock.
The four below the fire were able to escape, but five workers above the fire were trapped, Groves said.
The fire is about 2,000 feet underground and the workers are about 1,000 feet above the fire, and about 1,050 feet from the entrance of the penstock, Groves said.
There is smoke inside the pipe but officials believe that the workers are able to breathe because crews above ground had dropped oxygen bottles to the workers, Groves said. Fresh air is also being directed to the workers.
"We were able to get them a fresh airflow within about 45 minutes. So there is fresh air flowing into the pipe where they are," she said.
According to Tom Henley, Senior Media Relations Representative for Xcel, "There was communication with the five workers shortly after the fire broke out and there were no reported injuries at that time."
The workers are hunkered down on a temporary platform used to stop water from coming up the pipe while the workers conducted maintenance.
Rescue crews plan to rescue the workers in two steps. First, firefighters from nearby Henderson Mine will come up through the bottom of the pipe to extinguish the fire. The mine rescue team is trained in rescue and fire fighting in a confined space, Grove said.
Then, members of the Alpine Rescue Team will rappel down the pipe from the top and rescue the workers.
The rescue team must wait for the fire to be extinguished before they can move in.
"We have an Alpine Rescue team that is coming down from the top. And then we also have rescue teams that are starting out from the bottom, from the Cabin Creek station. So the two crews are going to work and meet these folks in the middle," Groves said.
The workers do not have the necessary equipment to climb up the pipe.
Groves said they would have to climb about 1,500 feet and then up a 50-foot vertical rise to reach the surface.
The shaft is 48-inches wide and officials did not have an estimate of how long it would take to put the fire out.
Of the four workers who escaped, two were treated for chemical inhalation and one was airlifted to St. Anthony's Central Hospital. Their names have not been released.
According to Georgetown police Officer Nick Borys, about 50 rescue vehicles have gathered on site to assist with the rescue.
"Right now there's a full-blown rescue operation going on," Borys said
The Cabin Creek Power/Hydro Plant, six miles up Guanella Pass Road from Georgetown, is a hydroelectric pumped storage power plant owned and operated by Xcel Energy.
The plant opened in April 1967 and it comprises of two reservoirs where water flows from an upper reservoir to a lower reservoir to turn its generators and create electricity.
The hydroelectric plant generates electricity during peak times of demand by releasing water from one reservoir into a lower reservoir, then pumping the water back to the upper reservoir during non-peak times.
The plant is located at 10,018 feet above sea level and produces 234 megawatts of power.