High Angle Firefighting

[jack10562 414]

What should you do when confronted with a situation such as this?

Attack the seat of the fire, or wait until it is more manageable, like after it comes down to you?

(Photographer(s): unknown)

Think "collapse zone"....

[CHIEFPHIL 90]

No life hazard. Clear the area, let it burn , extinguish remaining fire on the ground once the pole no longer has a falling debris issue. Call in the utility who owns it to do any elevated stabilization and or final extinguishment.

[Bnechis 3,961]

No life hazard. Clear the area, let it burn , extinguish remaining fire on the ground once the pole no longer has a falling debris issue. Call in the utility who owns it to do any elevated stabilization and or final extinguishment.

Good call, or the other option:

Even at 565 mph, I suspect they may have an extended response time.

[jack10562 414]

There are just a handful of these large turbines located on The Cape, however they no longer seem to have the widespread appeal they once initially enjoyed. It appears that very few if any land based installations will receive local approval anytime in the near future.

One controversial offshore project well into the permitting stages is Cape Wind, a proposed wind farm in Nantucket Sound consisting of 130 turbines capable of 420 MegaWatts of power generation.

I guess we'll need one of these:

[SageVigiles 1,194]

There is one in New Haven next to the I-95 "Q" Bridge. Would be an interesting incident.

[JetPhoto 626]

Taking in consideration that most of these are built in rural areas, most departments most likely have an Ariel to reach them so waiting for it to burn out may be the only option. I would not send anyone inside the tower because there is no emergency exit and as some of the photos show there may be a collapse. Lets not forget these machines deal with high voltage.

Lets not forget Cell Towers

All you can really do is contact the company in charge of it and your local electrical utility to cut the power. It's not worth anyones life

[xfirefighter484x 234]

No life hazard. Clear the area, let it burn , extinguish remaining fire on the ground once the pole no longer has a falling debris issue. Call in the utility who owns it to do any elevated stabilization and or final extinguishment.

Taking in consideration that most of these are built in rural areas, most departments most likely have an Ariel to reach them so waiting for it to burn out may be the only option. I would not send anyone inside the tower because there is no emergency exit and as some of the photos show there may be a collapse. Lets not forget these machines deal with high voltage.

Lets not forget Cell Towers

All you can really do is contact the company in charge of it and your local electrical utility to cut the power. It's not worth anyones life

Very good points. Let's not forget that those wind turbines are massive electric generators. Even once wound down, if no capacitors of any form to store energy, there is sure to be plenty of residual electrical energy there, and we all know a burning transformer on a pole, or downed electrical line doesn't get touched until the Utility Company will prove it's dead, the same precaution should come from an electrical "factory" for lack of a better term!!

Jet, thanks for bringing the Cell Tower issue to light to, never really considered that!

[firemoose827 324]

I agree. No life hazard, except our own that is. Move anyone in the collapse area back, keep it clear until the unit falls or burns itself out, ensure the power is off, perform overhaul and clean up any brush fires that were set off and clear the scene.

They will just come in and put a new tower up anyway, so be safe, let it burn and come down to your level.

[IzzyEng4 427]

There is a picture either on this forum or on the net somewhere showing one of these wind generators emitting electrical arcs to the ground while burning. Cut the power to it from a safe distance and let it burn, protect any exposures.

[jack10562 414]

Is the image you were thinking about, it kind of looks like electrical sparks, I'm pretty sure it's just time-lapse exposure of burning debris falling.

Pretty cool, nonetheless.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Taking in consideration that most of these are built in rural areas, most departments most likely have an Ariel to reach them so waiting for it to burn out may be the only option. I would not send anyone inside the tower because there is no emergency exit.

Incident priority #1: Life Safety. 1A. Us....1B them. No civilian life safety issue? On to Incident Priority #2: Incident Stabilization. No exposure...no problem. Waiting for it to burn to me is the ONLY option aerial or not. On to Incident Priority #3: Property Conservation. Again ties into the exposure question. That tower is done..there is no conserving it. I wouldn't send anyone into the tower because once Incident Priority #1 is answered...I'm not going to allow my personnel to then become the life safety issue.

[IzzyEng4 427]

Thanks Jack, that is the one I was referring too. There is also another one taken during the daylight also.

[Alpinerunner 61]

My co-worker transferred to Vestas and he was telling me these things are only meant to operate at a certain wind speed. If they start spinning too fast, the utility (or maybe it does it automatically) backfeeds the grid into the turbine and the very generator that it turns, turns into a brake, with the output being heat. Too high winds for too long and they will burn.

[PFDRes47cue 653]

There is a couple thousand of these up in the North Country...every once in a while one ignites. Let it burn.

[Cutty630 37]

now what do you do????

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=af7_1332069790

[BBBMF 158]

I'd say protect exposures, notify all the utility companies and let it burn out? any other takers lol

If the guys who normally work with that stuff don't wanna be near it, neither do I!!!

[xfirefighter484x 234]

I merged some new posts/thread with this existing thread, as they are along the same lines.

[ny10570 745]

now what do you do????

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=af7_1332069790

Shut the power and if its within reach knock it down. Doesn't look much taller than the telephone pole in the background. An elevated stream would be ideal, but a hand line from the roof should work.

Edited March 19, 2012 by ny10570

[ckroll 101]

Shut the power and if its within reach knock it down. Doesn't look much taller than the telephone pole in the background. An elevated stream would be ideal, but a hand line from the roof should work.

These things are huge, think 20 story building. They are considered hazards to navigation. Definite 'rule of thumb' safety zone.

[ny10570 745]

These things are huge, think 20 story building. They are considered hazards to navigation. Definite 'rule of thumb' safety zone.

My post was in reference to the liveleak video of a rooftop cell tower on fire. I didn't realize this thread was now part of the much older wind turbine thread.

[xfirefighter484x 234]

My post was in reference to the liveleak video of a rooftop cell tower on fire. I didn't realize this thread was now part of the much older wind turbine thread.

It is ok. Also, the thread was not specifically about Wind Turbine fires. Look at the name of the Topic Title. High Angle Firefighting. It is a generic topic.