Agencies are finding answers after a fire and explosion at a Florida Power and Light power plant in Indiantown.
The fire occurred at the Martin Next Generation Clean Energy Center located at 21900 Southwest Warfield Blvd. at about 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Martin County Fire Rescue Chief Chad Cianciulli said a 250-megawatt generator unit caught fire. After it was extinguished, he said two FPL workers went to close some vents, but there was flammable material on the ground that exploded from the heat, injuring the two workers.
Cianculli said one of his firefighters pulled the employees to safety and suffered minor burns in the process.
“I’m proud of our firefighters and what they did on scene, they stepped in when they really had to step in and this was a circumstance that was extreme and it tested them,” Cianculli said. “When they wear this badge, they carry responsibility. It was tested last night and they acted the way they were supposed to.”
Cianculli said one of the workers was airlifted to Jackson Memorial’s burn unit, while the other was transported to HCA Florida Lawnwood, before transferring to HCA Florida Kendall in Miami.
Cianculli said his firefighter was taken to the Cleveland Clinic’s Tradition Hospital with minor injuries but was later released.
Meanwhile, crews launched a full hazmat response and put out the fire entirely by 11:30 p.m.
“An aggressive operation with our hazmat team and an extensive foam operation,” Cianculli said. “The last time we had a response like this was 20 years ago, if I recall. “We’re confident that the scene is secure. It was a long night. It definitely rattled a lot of people.”
HCA Florida Kendall confirmed to WPTV’s Kate Hussey one of the FPL workers, Pat Murphy, remains at the hospital in critical condition.
His daughter, Christina Murphy, shared with Hussey she expects he’ll be OK despite deep, second-degree burns.
Jackson Memorial didn’t answer WPTV’s calls for updates on their patient, but multiple sources off camera told Hussey he’s alert and expected to pull through.
“It’s sad,” Indiantown resident Debbie Hackl said.
She said she saw the steady stream of fire trucks and flashing lights drive by, the night of the explosion.
“Yeah, here was a bunch of them,” she said. “I was walking my dog and it was kind of leery, like, ‘What’s going on down that way?'”
A news release in 2011 celebrated the 500 acre plant as the world’s first hybrid solar energy center.
FPL at the time said the plant connects more than 190,000 solar mirrors with an existing combined natural gas power plant. The mirrors then track the sun to harness fuel and offset fossil fuels.
“All this new technology these days. I don’t know, it’s scary,” Hackl said.
WPTV reached out to multiple state and federal agencies.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued the following statement to WPTV, reading in full:
<i>”We are aware of the incident and will continue to monitor for any impacts to bulk power system reliability. FERC is the agency responsible for bulk-power system reliability, so any safety issues related to the explosion would be handled by the appropriate state or federal regulators.”</i>
FPL issued the following statement Thursday:
<i>”We are aware of the serious incident Thursday night at FPL’s power plant in Indiantown that injured two of our employees. We are working closely with first responders in Martin County and are unable to provide additional information.”</i>
WPTV also reached out to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, who said they were checking into the incident as local agencies work to figure out what exactly went wrong.
“I’m sure there will be lessons learned from this without a doubt,” Cianculli said.
Cianculli said the investigation will be a lengthy one, and will involve a partnership between fire rescue and FPL.