Colorado Springs' Martin Drake Power Station Closes Due to Fire

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Colorado Spring's Martin Drake Power Station remained shut down after a four-alarm fire struck the plant on Monday. The 254-megawatt (MW), coal-fired plant, which is owned by Colorado Springs Utilities, provides about a third of the community's power. Damage to the plant's infrastructure is thought to be substantial.

The fire prompted the evacuation of 62 plant employees. Voluntary evacuation notices were sent out to people in a three-block area around the plant.

Colorado Springs Fire Chief Chris Riley said at a news conference that the plant is "going to be inoperable for quite some time." He did not have an estimate on how long the plant would be down.

Industrial Info has learned from plant officials that they believe the fire was limited to the area of Unit 5, which is the smallest and oldest of the units, but they had to shut off units 6 and 7 for safety reasons. These units are Drake's three boilers. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Firefighters would not release information about the cause and origin of the fire until an investigation had been completed.

Power was being rerouted from other plants, including Front Range, Ray Nixon and Birdsal, to make up for the Drake closure.

Colorado Springs Utilities Spokeswoman Patyrice Lehermeier confirmed the fire was contained to one of the units and said the other two were shut off after the fire began. Plant workers also released pressure from the boilers so they would not explode during the fire.

This was the second fire a Drake in 12 years. In 2002, a breaker on a large fan failed, sparking a blaze that shut down half of the plant for several weeks, forcing the utility to buy power from other sources.

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