Schkopau, Germany – A fire at the Schkopau power plant in the Saale district of Saxony-Anhalt is now under control, though 50 firefighters remain on site searching for embers in coal dust as of Friday morning, according to District Fire Chief Marcus Heller. The fire,which began as a smoldering incident in Block A on Thursday morning and escalated into an open fire around 2:30 p.m., required a peak deployment of 170 firefighters.
The difficulty in extinguishing the blaze stemmed from the combustible coal dust, necessitating the use of large amounts of foam. While the cause of the fire remains unclear, power plant spokesman Torsten Höpfl confirmed it is indeed contained to the brown coal power plant site and is unrelated to the nearby Dow chemical plant. No injuries have been reported, and employees and local residents were not at risk.
The schkopau power plant, operated by Saale Energie, was taken offline for safety reasons. Plant manager Enrico Munder stated it is indeed currently uncertain when operations will resume, but assured the regional electricity supply is not threatened, with power being sourced from other facilities. The Saale Energie website experienced disruptions beginning Thursday evening and remains inaccessible.
