Two engineers, trapped on top of a burning wind turbine, hug eachother. One jumped off, the other stayed

Two engineers, trapped on top of a burning wind turbine, hug eachother. One jumped off, the other stayed.

This picture is from Ooltgensplaat, the Netherlands, in 2013. This wind turbine caught fire as two technicians were working on it, and there really wasn't much they could do once the blaze got going. In this picture, the two embrace before one tries his luck at jumping almost 200 feet to his death. The other tried crawling down through the tube, only to get trapped inside. They were 19 and 21 years old.... Read story 

October 31, 2013 (Netherlands) – Two young mechanics, ages 19 and 21, died when a fire broke out in a wind turbine where they were performing  routine maintenance.  The tragedy occurred at Deltawind’s Piet de Wit wind farm in the Netherlands, but highlights the hazards associated with fires caused by wind turbines.

According to the Netherlands Times, “because of the height, the fire department initially had trouble extinguishing the fire in the engine room.”  The fire started in the afternoon, but it took until evening for a special team of firefighters to arrive and ascend with a large crane.

One victim was found on the ground beside the wind turbine; the other body was recovered by the specialized team.   Two other mechanics escaped safely.  A witness reported seeing two men jump through flames into a staircase. 

Cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but Deltawind has suggested a short circuit could be the cause.  The turbine was a 1.75 megawatt Vestas V-66.  Troublingly, these turbines are being sold by secondhand dealers online to buyers who may have no knowledge about the potential fire hazard. 

The wind industry has long claimed that wind turbine fires are rare.  But after creating a Google alert for the term “wind turbine fire,” ECM has received clips from media outlets around the world documenting that in fact, wind turbine fires are far more common than the industry would have prospective buyers believe. 

Vestas has been plagued by wind turbine fires  in the past.  The company blamed a 2011 wind turbine fire on a brake problem.  In 2012, a Vestas V-112 wind turbine in Germany caught fire; Vestas blamed the blaze on a loose connection that caused an arc flash.  Also in 2012; a  similar arc fire occurred in a Vestas V-90 turbine in Spain during maintenance; in addition a Vestas turbine collapsed in Ireland.  Then in April 2013, a Vestas V-80 wind turbine in Ontario, Canada, burst into flames.  

Tule Wind, an Iberdrola project has been approved by Supervisors and the federal government for construction in McCain Valley near Boulevard in East County.  That’s a cause for concern among firefighting experts, since aerial drops by firefighting planes can’t be done above 500-foot-tall turbines (fire drops work best at 100 to 350 feet), nor can firefighters be put at risk to battle blazes beneath whirling blades hurling off burning debris. Moreover, Boulevard’s fire station has been closed most days over the past three months.

Mark Ostrander, a retired Cal Fire battalion chief,  testified to San Diego’s Planning Commission that wind turbines in McCain Valley, along with Sunrise Powerlink, “will hamper aerial firefighting.”  He warned, “If we have a fire start in a wind area, we’re going to have to wait until it comes out, for the safety of the firefighters.” 

But who is going to protect the safety of campers, hikers, or residents near the recreational area if a wildfire starts at Tule Wind?  (Even in a best case scenario with turbines that function properly, there is still increased risk of fire due to towering turbines attracting lightning strikes, as has also happened at wind facilities around the world. View a photo, posted on the Weather Channel(link is external).) Is putting hundreds of lightning rods up across fire-prone East County, where some storms have caused over a thousand lightning strikes in a single weekend, really a good idea?

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