Damaged turbine north of Goderich, Ont. not yet fixed, six months after fire

A wind turbine, ravaged by fire near Goderich on June 3 of this year, doesn’t look much different today than it did on the day of the fire.

But, that should soon change.

“We are beginning to mobilize all required specialized resources, tooling and equipment, and expect to begin work on disassembly shortly,” said Katherine Perron, manager of communications for Capital Power, the owner and operators of the wind farm where the fire happened.

Spectacular video of the turbine fire, which was discovered around 6:30 a.m. on June 3, 2023, circulated quickly after it burst into flames.

The Goderich Fire Department sent crews to the scene, but there was little they could do.

“A wind turbine fire is something we basically let burn itself out. At the height of it, we can’t be close enough for our safety. Obviously the collapse zone, we could have a propeller fall off,” said Goderich Fire Chief, Jeff Wormington.

Goderich fire crews responded to a blaze that engulfed a wind turbine north of Goderich, Ont. on June 3, 2023. (Source: Submitted) What sparked the fire at the Kingsbridge Wind Farm, north of Goderich — which also had a turbine catch fire in 2013 — is still unclear. Lightning has been ruled out, but Capital Power officials said they’ll have to get the nacelle and propellers on the ground before fully determining what started the blaze.

“All the wind turbines in our area that I know of have a fire suppression system inside them that will suppress the fire. But, there’s times it fails, obviously, and there’s nothing that can be done,” said Wormington.

Which is a problem, said Warren Howard from Wind Concerns Ontario, who happened upon the fire on the way to his cottage on June 3.

“You can’t get up to the nacelle. So, you’ve got to have sprinkler systems up there when fires start. There’s a lot of oil up there,” said Howard.

Howard said he expects to see more wind turbine fires in the next couple years, as most of Ontario’s more than 2,500 wind turbines reach their proposed 20 year life cycle.

Fire crews tackled a blaze that had engulfed a wind turbine near Goderich, Ont. on June 3, 2023. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

As for the delays in removing what remains from the June turbine fire, it is not expected to be replaced as it reaches the end of its expected life span. Capital Power said a shortage of qualified people contributed to the slow removal.

“The delays were largely based on availability of specially trained technicians that are capable of managing and completing this complex maneuver safely,” said Capital Power’s Katherine Perron.

As far as fighting future wind turbine fires, at this time, there’s really no new firefighting tools better than watching and containing.

“It’s not going to change. Sometimes I feel like we’d cause more issues if we started spraying water up on there. Maybe loosen debris, send it further than it should. It’s better to let it burn, melt, and we’ll deal with it there. A lot of the time it’s burnt out before it get so the ground level, anyway,” said Wormington.