By VERNON ROBISON
Moapa Valley Progress
Residents of Moapa were faced with an unlikely sight on Wednesday morning,July 11. Though the massive generators at the decommissioned Reid Gardner Power Plant have been out of service for more than a year now, smoke was seen billowing from one of the facility’s four smoke stacks.
Of course, the plant had not suddenly sprung back into operation. Rather there was a fire incident that occurred at the plant in the ongoing process of its demolition.
The incident began at about 9:35 am when a member of the contract demolition crew was working inside of a rubber-lined scrubber vessel near the base of the Unit 3 smokestack. In the process of his work, the rubber material was inadvertently caught on fire. The burning rubber caused a black cloud of smoke and flame to issue from the top of the Unit 3 smoke stack.
“Those stacks are designed to create a strong updraft,” said Mark Severts, spokesman for the regional utility NV Energy that owns the former Reid Gardner plant. “And that vessel is right at the base of the stack. So it created a perfect flue where there is plenty of oxygen there to feed a fire.”
An emergency call was received by the Clark County Fire dispatch at about 9:40 am. Firefighting units from Overton Station #74 and Logandale Station #73 responded with a fire engine, a squad vehicle and a tender vehicle. The firefighters arrived on scene at around 10:10 am. But by that time, the fire had already burned itself out.
“There was a limited amount of rubber material lining that vessel,” said Severts. “That was all that could burn in there – and it burned pretty fast. Once the fuel was gone, though, the fire went out.”
The fire crews assessed the situation and declared the fire was out after inspecting the area. They left the site at about 10:30 am.
No injuries occurred as a result of the incident.
Severts said that NV Energy Director of Environmental Remediation Matt Johns had made visits to residents in the neighboring areas around the plant to inform residents of the nature of the incident. This included a stop at the Moapa Band of Paiutes (MBOP) reservation and at the Hidden Valley Ranch operation, Severts said.
Nevertheless, the fire still caused something of a panic at the nearby MBOP tribal village. Within a short period of time, a photo of the black plume of smoke had been posted on the feed of the Sierra Club Southern Nevada Facebook page. The accompanying text on the post claimed that Unit 3 had dangerous asbestos materials and inferred that the smoke was a major health hazard. It thus warned all surrounding residents to stay inside of their homes.
This, of course, set off a torrent of social media traffic on the subject.
Severts confirmed, however, that there had been no asbestos in the vessel that had caught fire. Thus, there were no significant health risks involved to neighboring areas, he said.
The Sierra Club Facebook post was taken down later on in the day.
