Wednesday update
A news release from the city of Bryan reports the two employees hospitalized in Bryan have been released.
6:50 p.m. update
Identities have been released of two of the three BTU employees injured in a fire Tuesday afternoon at the Atkins power plant.
The identity of the third employee has not been released, pending family authorization. Officials say that person was flown to a Houston burn center.
Taken to St. Joseph Regional Health Center with minor injuries were James Yendrey and Maurice Carlson.
Yendrey is a Production Support Operator who has 28 years of service with BTU and Carlson is an Electrical and Instrumentation Tech and has 3.5 years of service.
BTU Group Manager David Werley says the crew was doing periodic maintenance on a combustion turbine generator that is used where there is peak electric demand.
Werley says the employees were in the process of doing a test run on the generator when there was electrical sparking at transmission voltage. It was that sparking that started the fire and resulted in the injuries.
Bryan Fire Marshal Marc McFeron stated that the investigation into the cause of the fire will take several days to complete.
The Atkins power plant was offline at the time of the incident and was not supplying power to any BTU customers.
Werley complemented Bryan firefighters, who extinguished the fire in short order.
Click below for comments from David Werley, visiting with WTAW’s Bill Oliver.
3:30 p.m. update
Three BTU employees were injured in a fire Tuesday afternoon at the Atkins Street substation.
Bryan Fire Chief Randy McGregor says two of the employees had what appeared to be minor injuries and one with serious injuries.
The fire was reported around 2 p.m. and was out within ten minutes after the first firefighters arrived.
McGregor says units from four stations responded.
What caused the fire is under investigation.
The power plant was down for maintenance and was not supplying power to any customers when the fire occurred.
The substation is located south of Finfeather Lake, north of Carson Street, and between Finfeather Road and South College.
Original story:
Three BTU employees have been injured in a fire at the Atkins Street substation.
A news release from the city of Bryan did not disclose the extent of the injuries.
The fire, which was in a generator, is under control.
The substation is located south of Finfeather Lake, north of Carson Street and between Finfeather Road and South College.
The power plant was down for maintenance and was not supplying power to any BTU customers when the fire occurred.
