View Fire turbine blaze spreads to rangeland near Whitewater, California

In June 2012, an onshore wind turbine in the San Gorgonio Pass wind resource area, near Whitewater, east of Cabazon in Riverside County, California, United States, caught fire in what became known as the View Fire. Burning material from the elevated turbine reached the surrounding vegetation and started a wildfire, which spread across rangeland before being contained by fire services drawing on resources from more than one agency. Reported burned area was in the order of a few hundred acres. Brush and debris had previously been cleared around the turbine bases as a vegetation management measure, and the clearance did not prevent ignition of vegetation beyond the cleared area. The event is cited in later commentary on wind turbine fires as an example of ignition spreading from an elevated turbine fire to surrounding land.

Reported by the source, and with the caveat that no formal investigation findings were available in the material reviewed: the root cause of the turbine fire itself was not disclosed; burning material from the elevated part of the turbine is understood to have fallen or been carried by wind beyond the cleared area at the tower base; the surrounding arid rangeland near Whitewater carried cured fuel; local wind conditions in the San Gorgonio Pass area supported spread; and the source of the fire was at height, beyond the reach of ground based suppression, so containment depended on perimeter control of the wildfire.

1. Treat ground level vegetation clearance around turbine bases as one control only, and assess the distance that burning material could travel from nacelle height under site wind conditions when setting clearance radii.
2. In fire prone regions, include wildfire ignition from an elevated turbine fire as a credible scenario in site emergency planning rather than treating the turbine as an isolated asset loss.
3. Agree in advance with local fire services what response is expected when a fire is at nacelle height and cannot be reached from the ground, including perimeter control, access routes and water supply.
4. Record and review the seasonal fuel state around turbine strings, since clearance carried out earlier in the year may not reflect conditions at peak fire risk.
5. Include wildfire related liabilities, such as firefighting costs, third party property damage and land remediation, in the risk assessment for sites in fire prone terrain, not just turbine replacement and lost generation.
6. Consider detection and suppression measures within the nacelle where a site sits in fire prone terrain, and document the basis on which any decision to fit or not fit them is made.
7. Plan for the wider operational impact of a single turbine fire, including shutdown of adjacent machines, restricted site access and delayed return to service during fire service operations.

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