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The event is described as
"very rare"
by the Vendée firefighters.
Thursday afternoon, around 5:15 p.m., they intervened for a fire.
So far, nothing out of the ordinary.
Except that the flames emanated from a motor of a wind turbine culminating at 77 meters high located in the town of Froidfond, near Challans.
“When the teams arrived, the fire was spreading to the blades.
The intervention being deemed too dangerous, they decided to let the fire go out on its own
, ”indicates Le
Figaro
, the Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (Sdis).
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“There was no employee on the site, no inhabitant in the vicinity and no animals nearby”
, details the relief to explain their choice.
As a precaution, and even if the first dwellings were located 400 meters away, a security perimeter was nevertheless established in an area of 200 meters around the wind turbine on fire: "This was done
because debris could fall to the ground and that a risk of propagation could not be excluded.
Nearly three hours after their arrival in the area, around 8 p.m., the seven firefighters mobilized left the scene after ensuring that everything was secure.
A maintenance operation shortly before
"The wind turbine is still standing with its blades"
, confirms this Friday morning, Philippe Guérin, the mayor of the town.
To realize this, he did not need to go there because
“he sees the wind turbines from the town hall”
.
As surprising as it may seem,
"this is not the first time"
that such an incident has occurred in this wind farm commissioned in 2004 and which has nine turbines.
“There was already the same problem with the wind turbine n°7 five or six years ago.
This time, it was wind turbine No. 9 that caught fire
, ”says the city councilor.
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He was able to discuss with the site operator, Engie Green, to try to understand what happened:
“A maintenance operation took place on wind turbines 7.8 and 9 in the morning.
At the time of the restart, only the wind turbine n°7 started again.
They decided to manually start #8 but do nothing for #9.”
However, it was this one that caught fire.
Burning oil?
“According to the operator, it was probably oil present in the engine that ignited. All it takes is a spark for it to start
,” adds the mayor, who is in his fourth term.
Difficult to know what happened precisely since no one was present at the time of the outbreak of the fire.
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It remains to be seen what will become of the damaged wind turbine.
"The last time, the operator had dismantled everything and then set up a new structure"
, recalls the city councilor who specifies that the wind farm is located on private land belonging to farmers in the town.
