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5 Die After Tunnel Fire At Colorado Power Plant

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By P. SOLOMON BANDA, The Associated Press

Published: October 4, 2007

GEORGETOWN, Colo. - When fire broke out deep underground at a hydroelectric plant in the Rockies Tuesday, officials at the surface dropped a radio to five trapped men in a tunnel and were relieved to learn they were all right.

But when emergency crews reached them six hours later, they were dead.

Wednesday, investigators tried to determine what went wrong more than 1,500 feet underground at Xcel Energy Corp.'s Cabin Creek power plant.

It was unclear whether the five maintenance workers were burned, suffocated or overcome by fumes from highly flammable epoxy sealant they used to coat the inside of the empty, 12-foot-wide water pipeline.

Officials were awaiting air quality tests before retrieving the bodies and gathering evidence.

Authorities defended rescue efforts, saying smoke, complexities of the 4,000-foot tunnel's design and uncertainties about dangers prevented them from going after the men for more than 3 1/2 hours after the fire began.

'We didn't know what was causing the fire, what was feeding the fire,' Undersheriff Stu Nay said. 'You never know, when you're dealing with airflow and the intensity of the fire where we're facing a backdraft situation, what we're running into. 'It's dangerous work. We can't afford to have someone else go in and complicate the problem.'

The blaze erupted when a machine used to coat the tunnel caught fire, Xcel Energy spokeswoman Ethnie Groves said.

Nine workers of RPI Coating in Santa Fe Springs, Calif., were sealing the pipe to prevent corrosion. The tunnel delivers water from a reservoir to turbines that generate electricity at the plant 30 miles west of Denver.

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