Coal dust fire provides training opportunity at Cedar Rapids power plant

Firefighters used a relatively minor issue inside a Cedar Rapids power plant as a training opportunity Thursday.

Fire crews were dispatched around 8:10 a.m. to Alliant Energy's Prairie Creek Generating Station, 3300 C St. SW. Initial reports had coal smoldering inside a bunker on the seventh floor of the plant.

Alliant Energy spokesman Scott Drzycimski said coal dust combusted causing some minor damage to insulation around a pipe between the bunker and the roof. He said the coal in the bunker was not actually smoldering.

“It was one of those things where (the insulation) got hot and there was some smoke, but no fire with any risk of spreading,” Drzycimski said.

At least five fire trucks responded to the scene. Upon realizing the situation, fire officials asked plant personnel to use the incident as a training exercise, Drzycimski said. The crews were on the scene for nearly two hours.

“They decided this would be be an excellent opportunity for some training and getting used to the plant,” Drzycimski said.

Eight silo-style bunkers inside the plant hold coal that is fed into a boiler to produce electricity. There were no service interruptions due to Thursday's incident, officials said.

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