Oct 2, 2007 7:08 pm US/Eastern
Fire At Power Plant Kills 5 Workers
GEORGETOWN, Colo. (CBS) ―
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The Cabin Creek Station plant, owned by Xcel Energy, is about 30 miles west of Denver. (File)
CBS
A chemical fire at a hydroelectric plant outside this mountain town killed five workers who were trapped inside an empty water tunnel on Tuesday, authorities said.
A rescue crew went in from the bottom of the tunnel to put out the fire and found the worker's bodies, said Clear Creek County undersheriff Stu Nay said.
"We have found the parties. We have five fatalities," Nay A chemical fire at a hydroelectric
plant outside this mountain town killed five workers who were trapped inside an empty water tunnel on Tuesday, authorities said.
A rescue crew went in from the bottom of the tunnel to put out the fire and found the worker's bodies, said Clear Creek County undersheriff Stu Nay said.
"We have found the parties. We have five fatalities," Nay said.
Xcel Energy spokeswoman Ethnie Groves previously said that workers had initially communicated that they weren't injured but it wasn't clear how many times they had communicated with authorities after that.
After the fire broke out, the five workers had rushed uphill to a section of the pipe that had been blocked off to prevent ground water from seeping into it, authorities said.
They were among a group of workers who were in the tunnel when the fire broke out at 2 p.m. on a machine being used to coat the inside of the 4-foot-wide pipe with epoxy, Groves said.
Four workers below the fire were able to scramble out of the bottom of the tunnel, which goes through a mountain to a small reservoir.
Two of the four workers who scrambled out from the pipe were treated for chemical inhalation. One was airlifted to a hospital, Groves said.
The water tunnel had been shut down for routine maintenance when the fire broke out.
said.
Xcel Energy spokeswoman Ethnie Groves previously said that workers had initially communicated that they weren't injured but it wasn't clear how many times they had communicated with authorities after that.
After the fire broke out, the five workers had rushed uphill to a section of the pipe that had been blocked off to prevent ground water from seeping into it, authorities said.
They were among a group of workers who were in the tunnel when the fire broke out at 2 p.m. on a machine being used to coat the inside of the 4-foot-wide pipe with epoxy, Groves said.
Four workers below the fire were able to scramble out of the bottom of the tunnel, which goes through a mountain to a small reservoir.
Two of the four workers who scrambled out from the pipe were treated for chemical inhalation. One was airlifted to a hospital, Groves said.
The water tunnel had been shut down for routine maintenance when the fire broke out.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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