Crews Extinguish Fire in Seabrook Station Operations Building

Original story posted at 3:40 p.m. [Update posted at 4:30 p.m.]


Seabrook firefighters responded to a Seabrook Station nuclear power plant out building Thursday afternoon for the report of a working fire, although it turned out to be a small fire that crews were quickly able to subdue.

Deputy Fire Chief Koko Perkins said the fire started just after 2 p.m. in an "air handling unit" in the ceiling of an "operations building" outside of the plant's containment area. 

The fire was contained within the unit, and no flames were visible when firefighters arrived on scene, he said. Perkins said the fire was extinguished in "maybe five or six minutes" after crews arrived on scene and cut the power, and there was never any risk of a potential nuclear plant breach or shutdown.

"If it was in any other office, it would be run of the mill stuff," said Perkins.

Plant spokesman Al Griffith said "there was no fire," only "smoke from an overheated fan."

No emergency notifications were made by Seabrook Station as a result of the fire. Perkins said the incident was positive, though, as it helped his department train for larger potential fires and emergencies at the plant.

"Basically, it was a little refreshing on our point," said Perkins. "We get to see how our responses are. We can evaluate and re-evaluate how we respond in the future because of little incidents like this."