Wind turbine catches fire north of Beaver Thursday night

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The MidAmerican Energy Co. is investigating the cause of the Thursday night fire in a wind turbine in Boone County near Beaver.

A MidAmerican Energy wind turbine caught fire about 10 p.m. Thursday north of Beaver in western Boone County.

There were no injuries in the fire, and authorities at the scene were uncertain what caused the blaze.

Boone County Emergency Management, the Ogden Volunteer Fire Department and the Grand Junction Volunteer Fire Department responded to the fire, which was confined to one tower on the north side of 190th Street about one-half mile east of B Avenue.

The wind tower stands 95 meters tall and is surmounted by a 2-megawatt Vestas turbine.

“We can’t squirt water that high,” said Ogden Fire Chief Rick Sturtz. “There’s nothing to do but let it burn itself out.”

The unit is one of 85 put into operation last fall as part of MidAmerican Energy’s 170-megawatt Beaver Creek Wind Farm. The wind farm straddles Greene and Boone counties, with 41 turbines in Greene County and 44 in Boone County.

The 39-acre parcel on which the burned-out turbine stands in Amaqua Township is owned by Litchfield Realty Co., according to Boone County records.

Dave Morlan, Boone County Emergency Management coordinator, said this was his department’s first experience of a wind turbine fire. The turbine has been in operation less than one year.

An additional 85 wind turbines are currently under construction in Greene County as MidAmerican Energy’s Beaver Creek II Wind Farm, and earlier this month MidAmerican announced two new projects in Adair County for constructing 275 wind turbines with the option to add up to 100 more.

ThePerryNews.com will update this story as information becomes available.

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