Updated at 10:33 a.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A fire broke out this morning at the power plant in the Chehalis Industrial Park, drawing numerous 911 calls from passersby on Interstate 5 and four fire departments.
A transformer exploded, sending flames some 150 feet into the sky, according to according to Lewis County Fire District 6.
Burning at the natural gas-fueled facility on the 1800 block of Bishop Road was one of three 25-foot tall transformers, according to Firefighter-Paramedic Steven Busz.
Nobody was injured.
The sprinkler system contained the blaze even before the one employee on scene shut the power off, Busz said.
It is a very large sprinkler system installed after the last fire there, he said.
The plant was built in 2003 and has been owned and operated since 2008 by the Portland-based PacifiCorp.
A company spokesperson said investigators are looking into it, but it sounds similar to a situation in early 2011 in which a transformer malfunction caused a fire as well.
“The system notifications and alerts worked as they were supposed to,” PacifiCorp spokesperson Tom Gauntt said.
Busz said the metal transformers are filled with a type of mineral oil which conducts the electricity. He wasn’t sure how extensive the damage was to the equipment.
About a dozen firefighters answered the 5:30 a.m. call from Chehalis, Centralia and Napavine, he said.
District 6 was on the scene until about 8 a.m. ensuring the sprinkler system had cooled the transformer to make sure it was out.
The new sprinkler system is so large, crews didn’t put any of their own water on the fire, according to Budsz.
After the January 2011 fire, partial generation was restored at the plant within days and normal operations resumed within less than a month, according to PacifiCorp.