Stanton Station experiences small fire
Stanton, ND (January 3, 2000) - Shortly after noon today, Hazen and Stanton fire departments responded to a 911 call from Stanton Station operators, asking for help in extinguishing a small fire that had flared up within the walls of the administration building at the plant. According to Stanton Station plant manager, John Pelerine, both fire departments were on the plant site for about an hour putting out the smoldering fire. There were no injuries reported.
“Several of our office personnel noticed a smoky smell at about 11 a.m.,” Pelerine said. “When small flames were noticed we called 911.”
Pelerine believes welding sparks smoldering on a wooden roof expansion joint ignited the blaze. Stanton Station is currently undergoing an office expansion and remodeling project to increase office and conference room space.
“The fire ran the length of the wooden expansion joint connecting our current conference space and the old building,” Pelerine said. “What damage there is is mostly due to smoke and water in several offices and our conference room.”
Immediate work will be needed to clean offices and patch holes in office walls and the ceiling created while fire fighters searched for the fire. The cost of the damage is not yet known.
Stanton Station is a 185-megawatt coal-fired power plant owned and operated by Great River Energy. Great River Energy, headquartered in Elk River, MN, is a generation and transmission cooperative serving 29 cooperatives and more than 1.3 million customers in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
