Large fire causes extensive damage at power plant

EUHARLEE, Ga. — Firefighters battled a large transformer fire that started outside a building at Georgia Power's Plant Bowen facility in Euharlee on Thursday afternoon.

Viewers sent in photos to the Channel 2 Action News newsroom showing huge plumes of smoke billowing from the plant shortly after the fire started.

NewsChopper 2 flew over the plant soon after learning of the fire and showed heavy flames and thick black smoke coming from the transformer.

[PHOTOS: Large fire breaks out Georgia Power Plant Bowen]

An initial statement from Georgia Power, which owns the facility, said: “There is no fire inside the plant structure itself. There are no known injuries and the fire department is onsite.”

The transformer fire was contained to an on-site switchyard, which is an enclosed area, similar to a substation, in which the energy is moved from the plant itself to the power lines.

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In a statement released shortly before 5:30 p.m., Georgia Power said: "We have confirmed that there were no injuries as a result of the fire. Additionally, our power delivery system functioned as designed and there were no customer power outages as a result of this incident. The safety of our facilities and employees is our top priority every day.

"We are working to determine the exact cause of the fire, but we believe it was the result of an equipment failure related to a transformer."

The Bartow County fire department said the fire extended to the roof of the building, causing moderate damage to the building and extensive damage to the transformer yard.

Multiple agencies responded to the fire.

Two Bartow County firefighters were taken to Cartersville Medical Center with minor injuries.

According to Georgia Power's website, the plant is the ninth-largest power plant in net generation of electricity in the country.

This is not the first incident of this kind to occur at the plant.

In April 2013, an explosion caused significant damage to a generator at the plant. One person was injured in that incident.

Cox Media Group