The learning before the burning

Nobody likes to talk about the worst-case scenario. But there it was, projected in vivid color across the Milton R. Young Station’s auditorium screen – the power plant’s fuel tanks enveloped in flames. Sure, it was just a Photoshopped training scenario, but you could still feel the heat rise in the room.

“When we’re talking about big fire, we’re talking about big water,” said fire training facilitator Kurt Buchanan, addressing the eight Minnkota Power Cooperative employees seated before him. “You have to use the two-and-a-half-inch hose.”

This was just one of five crews Buchanan would be training that week, each composed of members of Minnkota’s on-site fire brigade. It’s a role nearly all employees of the plant’s Operations department hold, with up to 50 responders trained annually to suit up and slow a disaster. The fire brigade has been an essential component of the Young Station’s emergency response planning for decades, established soon after the plant started generating electricity in the 1970s near Center, North Dakota.

The remote location of the Young Station means it could take 20-30 minutes for local fire department volunteers to arrive on scene. And because of the volunteer nature of the department, it’s possible only a few would be able to respond on short notice. Plus, local volunteers are typically trained for grass fires and structural fires, not industrial fire dangers like hydrogen and fuel oil tanks.

“It’s a whole different ball game with chemicals, explosives, heat, etc.,” said Tim Krous, Minnkota safety and physical security specialist. “So, to have our own training and personnel at the plant to, at minimum, save the surrounding structures is critical.”

Training the brigade

Buchanan, who instructs at Minnesota’s Hennepin Technical College, brought with him decades of residential and industrial firefighting experience to share with the Young Station team. He walked through scenarios the crews could face, as well as tools and techniques they could leverage at the plant. After discussing thermal imaging, search and rescue priorities, and the dangers of “cold smoke,” the trainer asked his trainees to gear up and get outside. Since a real plant fire event is rare, they’d have to pretend devastation was at the doorstep.

“They’re a very dedicated workforce. They’re focused on the training, but they don’t have the opportunity to exhibit a lot of it,” Buchanan said of the Minnkota brigade. “One of the challenges is that this is not their core job. And so, as with any fire brigade, they’re trained and efficient at what they do, but they only get better by practice and additional training.”

Minnkota’s fire team carried large-gauge hoses to one of the complex’s fire hydrants, connecting the correct nozzles and setting up a fire monitor, which acts as a giant sprinkler to suppress large fires. On an already drizzly afternoon, the mist of the brigade’s exercises stuck to every surface.

The turnout gear-clad Minnkota team made the training scenarios look effortless. Their ease wasn’t by accident.

“You pretty much know the guys on your crew that you've been working with over the years,” said Minnkota Assistant Control Operator Patrick Weninger, who has served on the fire brigade since he was hired 11 years ago. “If you've been on the same crew and with the same guys for a while, you get to know each other’s talents, what you’re good at, what you’re not good at. You start to mesh pretty well.”

“Another thing that makes this successful is that these people are extremely knowledgeable about their plant,” Buchanan said. “That’s critical.”

Upon hire at Minnkota, new Operations employees are sent to an industrial fire school for an intensive multiday training on the fundamentals. After that, the five fire brigade crews come together only once a year in these trainings. However, that annual training is enough for them to build trust – in their teammates, and in themselves.

“I hope they take away confidence. Just confidence to know their capabilities,” Krous said.

“It definitely gives you a different perspective,” Weninger said, adding that the insights he’s gained through more than a decade of fire training have spread to his personal life. “It just makes you rethink things for your own family, your own house. We want our homes to be safe as well.”

MAIN IMAGE: Members of the Minnkota fire brigade train for deploying a fire monitor, used to suppress large fires. (Minnkota/Michael Hoeft)