Might be a year before a fire-damaged turbine at the Grand River Dam Authority’s coal-fired electric-generating plant at Chouteau is replaced. Authorities are still assessing damage from the Friday night fire that occurred when lightning struck and knocked a pump offline. The resulting shutdown caused a turbine to continue running and overheating, resulting in the several-hour long fire that was battled by 13 fire departments.
Five GRDA workers were close to the site when the lightning struck but they were not hurt. The strike happened around 6:30 p.m. and 5 hours later, firefighters finally had the fire under control.
