Turbine explosion sparks fire
Posted: Thursday, August 20, 2015
BY PAUL LEIGHTON STAFF WRITER
PEABODY, MASS.
A gas-powered turbine exploded and caught fire at a Peabody Municipal Light Plant substation on Pulaski Street Thursday morning.
The building filled with smoke, but the fire remained isolated, Deputy Fire Chief Joe Daley said. The four employees who were in the building were not injured.
Daley said the explosion took place at about 8:30 a.m. when a piece of switching equipment malfunctioned as workers were in the process of turning on one of the turbines that generate power.
Light plant workers shut down the turbine but firefighters had to wait about 10 minutes for the turbine, which was generating about 13,000 volts of electricity, to stop spinning, according to Daley.
“We had to make sure the building was de-energized before we could extinguish the fire,” he said. “We had to be patient.”
Jennifer Santoro, communications manager for the Peabody Municipal Light Plant, said the incident did not cause any power outages in the city. Light plant officials are investigating the exact cause of the equipment failure, as well as the cost of the damage, she said.
The incident took place at the light plant’s Waters River substation at 58R Pulaski St. Four Peabody Fire Department trucks responded to the scene. Firefighters from Lynnfield and Lynn were called in to cover the headquarters and West Peabody stations.