Fire at Westar Energy plant out near Colwich
A white plume of smoke remained after a large transformer malfunction sparked a fire at the Westar Energy plant near Colwich.
The fire was reported just before 2 a.m. Wednesday at the Gordon Evans Energy Center. It is located on 151st St. W. between K-96 and 53rd St. N. It appears a 15,000 gallon container of mineral oil caught fire. There were two employees at the plant who called 911.
A large number of firefighters brought the fire under control with a layer of foam six hours later.
"It's extinguished. The fire department hazardous materials crews just applied their foam and water mixture to put out the blaze," Westar Energy spokesman Nick Bundy said.
No one was hurt and there were no evacuations. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. The plant remains off-line now.
Crews from Sedgwick County, Wichita, Colwich , McConnell Air Force Base and Frontier Oil Refinery also responded to the scene.
"Right now it's a group effort between all the agencies that are out here," said Sedgwick County Deputy Fire Marshal Daniel Wegner.
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