Demolition work sparks fire at Brayton Point

SOMERSET — It took roughly four hours for firefighters to knock down a fire that broke out at the site of the former Brayton Point power plant Monday after demolition crews working in a coal hopper accidentally started the blaze.

Somerset Fire Chief Scott Jepson said the company contracted to demolish portions of the old coal-powered power plant had all the necessary permitting to do their work and that negligence did not play a part in the fire starting.

“They did have the permits issued by us to perform the work. They did have fire extinguishers on hand and a fire hose line on site,” he said. “They were trying to put it out when we got there and it just got away from them.”

According to Jepson, the fire started at about 10 a.m. as the demolition crew began cutting apart the site’s coal hopper. Sparks given off by the cutting ignited flammable materials in the hopper.

“There was some rubber inside there were portions of it lined with a Teflon like material. So as they were cutting the sparks got into the hopper and that caught it on fire,” said Jepson.

It took roughly four hours for fire crews to extinguish the flames due to the shape of the hopper and the fact that there was a lot of sheet metal obstructing their view of the fire.

“It was quite difficult because some of the hydrants on the property are shut off from the demolition,” said Jepson, explaining they had to run a hose to a fire hydrant 2,000 feet away. “That’s a lot of work and even then we had inadequate water flow. Part of that was because of the distance but we also think there might be a valve shut off somewhere on the property.”

Jepson said this was the first accidental fire to start at Brayton Point during the demolition.