Turbine bursts into flames showering debris all around
Friday 9 December 2011 00:01 Scotsman.com
A WIND turbine in North Ayrshire caught fire at the height of yesterday’s storms in a dramatic moment captured on camera by eyewitness Stuart McMahon.
Mr McMahon saw the fire break out from his house in Adrossan and rushed outside to take a photograph.
He said: “It was certainly a pretty spectacular sight. My wife was upstairs in the bedroom and called me up about 3:40pm.
“As soon as I saw it, I grabbed the camera and ran outside. The turbines had been stationary all day because of the wind.
“I just looked at it and thought, ‘wow!’ I just stood and watched to see if it was going to explode or if anything else was going to happen.
“Something definitely did fly through the air but the fire brigade were there within ten minutes and had the fire out.”
Another resident, Tom Young, caught the blaze on video. He said: “Loads of fire engines and police have been called out, but the fire was out pretty quickly. It was quite spectacular to say the least.”
Fire officers created an exclusion zone around the turbine to make sure no-one was caught by flying debris. However, the blaze blew itself out before they arrived.
Group commander Brian Winter, of Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service, said 18 firefighters were sent to the incident and that debris falling from the turbine was carried by the winds “a considerable distance”.
Some of the comments this article attracted:
“Not surprising…read this on the dangers of collapsing, failing and blade-throwing wind turbines… http://www.guardian.co.uk/…ngineering “
“Mr McMahon said “The turbines had been stationary all day because of the wind.” Rather defeats the purpose of Wind power, when maximum wind blows you can’t generate power! End Green Anarchist policies now = Save the Human race and the planet.”
“The problem is that current turbines and their transmission clutter are first generation technology which will soon be obsolete and left as expensive, hideous reminders of our rush to invest. New, more effective and less intrusive energy technologies are on the way but the door will close on them if today’s political class continues to ‘bet the house’ on wind. Anyway, the shale gas revolution has changed the game by guaranteeing cheap fossil fuel for the next century and we should all be troubled by the reckless folly of the government’s manic commitment to wind farms.”
“Industrial chimneys didn’t rely on subsidies and grants for at least 65% of their income, and they didn’t continue to generate money even when they weren’t being productive. Cynicus and I disagree about global warming, IIRC, but in this he’s right, they ARE worse than useless – they are policy distractors that mask the real problems of energy inefficiency and energy wastage whilst making scientifically ignorant politicians feel like they’re doing something. They increase fuel bills for the poor and put the money into the hands of those who are already wealthy. To cap it all, they despoil unique landscapes and views.”