Experts have begun assessing the damage at the 2 GW Ferrybridge C coal fired power station in West Yorkshire, UK, following a serious fire that continued for four days before being brought fully under control. Heavy duty cranes have now been moved in to help engineers access the damaged units 3 and 4.
The fire, which broke out on Thursday 31 July, caused the partial collapse of an FGD stack on the site, but fortunately no-one was injured.
External cladding will be pulled from the affected structure on Wednesday, 13 August, said plant owner SSE. A spokesman said: "Work has begun to fully assess the damage caused, and to examine the different options for repair. The assessment process – which is likely to be lengthy – will take place in stages. The first stage will work to gain access to the affected structure and to remove external cladding. This will enable specialist engineers to fully assess the damage caused."
At the fire’s height, about 75 firefighters had been brought in to tackle the 30m high flames. Firefighters finally left the site on 4 August.
SSE will be undertaking an investigation to establish the full extent of damage in due course. Early indications show the fire itself started in unit 4 but then spread to unit 3. Due to planned maintenance neither of the affected units had been operational over the summer and therefore had not been supplying power to the National Grid at the time of the incident.
SSE said unit 3 would not be operational until at least 1 November and unit 4, where the fire started, would be out of action until 4 March at the earliest.
