Staff at the Minnesota Power Taconite Harbor Energy Center and local fire departments train together to be prepared in case of an emergency at the power plant. The training was put to good use on Sunday, August 17 when a coal fire ignited in a dust collector. The Schroeder, Tofte and Lutsen fire departments responded to extinguish the smoldering fire.
Three fire departments were called to the Minnesota Power Taconite Harbor Energy Center at 4:59 p.m. on Sunday, August 17 to fight a fire. Workers at Taconite Harbor reported smoldering coal in a dust collector at the power plant.
The Schroeder Fire Department was paged first along with the Tofte-Schroeder First Responders and the Tofte Fire Department to provide mutual aid. Shortly after the Schroeder Fire Department arrived on scene at 5:19 p.m., the Lutsen Fire Department was also paged to assist. Cook County Ambulance was also paged.
Firefighters worked in shifts in extremely high temperatures to find a way to extinguish the fire in the dust collector hopper. The dust collector is a large funnel-like piece of equipment, several stories high, and the hopper is a collection bin, almost like a vacuum cleaner bag, explained Taconite Harbor Managing Superintendent Dave Rannetsberger when the News-Herald reached him a few days after the incident.
Rannetsberger said extinguishing the fire was made more difficult because the dust collector and hopper are difficult to reach. He said firefighters tried to access the fire initially from above, from the roof area, but that was not working. Taconite Harbor workers quickly assembled scaffolding to allow firefighters and Taconite Harbor staff to open a fireproof door into the dust collector. Working from the scaffolding and the sixth floor, firefighters began making progress on cooling the smoldering coals.
Rannetsberger said to his knowledge there were never any actual flames. Firefighters used Taconite Harbor infrared cameras to locate the fire in the hopper. “But it was hot—think of the heat from the charcoal burning on your grill. That, and the normal plant temperature in that area of 130 degrees made it really tough for the firefighters in their turnout gear,” he said.
At about 7:26 p.m., the fire was being brought under control. At 8:43 p.m. Lutsen and Tofte Fire departments were released from the scene. Schroeder was clear of the scene at 8:53 p.m.
Schroeder Fire Chief Bonin expressed appreciation to the Lutsen and Tofte fire departments, as well as the Tofte-Schroeder Rescue Squad and Cook County Ambulance. He noted that the medical personnel did a good job making sure firefighters and Minnesota Power workers didn’t get overheated. At some point, they went and got sandwiches for the fire crews, said Bonin.
“It is a big, difficult, place to fight a fire,” said Chief Bonin. “Everyone did a great job. It couldn’t have gone better.”
The exact cause of the fire is unknown. Taconite Harbor Superintendent Rannetsberger said, “This was a new one for us. This is not somewhere where we normally see a hang up. There must have been coal hung up in the hopper and it spontaneously combusted.”
Rannetsberger said plant workers empty the dust collector hoppers weekly but apparently some coal stuck farther up in the chute. Rannetsberger said it is possible that because of the extremely cold winter, there was condensation in the dust collector, which caused coal to stick and eventually ignite.
Rannetsberger said Minnesota Power is already looking at ways to prevent the condensation problem in the future. They are also looking at ways to install a sprinkler system inside the dust collector itself so the plant could cool coals themselves if it did happen again.
The plant did not shut down while the fire was being extinguished and it did not impact production, he said.
“I’m glad it turned out as well as it did,” said Rannetsberger. “After our bunker fire two years ago we established an emergency incident response team. We’ve been planning and training with the local fire departments. I appreciate their response and how well they worked with the plant. The training paid off and we will do more training in the future.”
Rannetsberger added, “I definitely want to extend my thanks to all the fire departments who responded.”
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