Fire damages building on Leland Olds Station grounds

Posted 10/22/08 (Wed)

Several area residents were evacuated and part of State Highway 200A was closed after a building that housed fiberglass material caught fire last Tuesday night near Basin Electric’s Leland Olds Station, near Stanton.

At approximately 7 p.m. MDT last Tuesday, plant operators at LOS received a call from a passerby that a fire was spotted on the plant site. Upon investigation, plant officials found the 80-foot by 60-foot structure ablaze and called emergency officials. The call arrived at county dispatch about 7:40 p.m. MDT, Mercer County Sheriff Dean Danzeisen said, and responders arrived on scene at about 7:50 p.m. MDT.

The burned building is located approximately one-quarter mile to the southeast of the actual generating station, said Floyd Robb, Basin Electric Vice President Communications and Marketing Support.

"The fire had no effect on the power plant itself," Robb said.

The building housed fabricated fiberglass chimney liner used in the emissions control project currently underway at LOS. The fire was fueled primarily by the fiberglass and associated resins.

"Fiberglass resin, when burning, I suspect there is some level of toxicity," Robb said.