Fire damages equipment at Priest Rapids Dam

PRIEST RAPIDS DAM — Employees at Priest Rapids Dam were evacuated, but no one was injured, Thursday afternoon when a fire damaged equipment attached to one of the dam’s turbine-generator units.

The fire was reported about 3:15 p.m., said Christine Pratt, PUD public affairs. Priest Rapids employees discovered the fire in a piece of equipment that’s crucial to generator operation, but is not part of the generator-turbine unit itself.

The equipment had a “dedicated fire extinguishing system” that put out the fire, Pratt said, and it was out by 3:30 p.m.

The entire facility was evacuated, but workers were allowed in to get their belongings late Thursday afternoon.

The fire knocked turbine-generator unit No. 1 out of service, but it didn’t affect the other units, Pratt said.

No cause for the fire has been established, and no estimate of damage is available yet, she added.

— Staff report