Martin Drake Power Plant Fire

Weston Heiser Photo ©

At approximately 20:20 on August 20th, 2019 Colorado Springs Fire Department responded to the 700 block of Conejos St. at the Martin Drake Power Plant for a reported structure fire. Crews arrived to light smoke showing and investigated while units continued and staged, with assistance from employees at the plant, crews found active fire under Turbine 7, leading power outages in portions of the city. Crews pulled attack lines and stretched them into a staging area within the building. It was found that it would be extremely dangerous to fight the fire with water and crews had to resort to using dry chemical fire extinguishers. The fire was called under control later in the evening with approximately 70 fire department personnel on scene. Units began to release at 22:45, and the cause is under investigation by the CSFD Investigation Unit.

Initial Response: Battalion 1, Engine 1, Engine 2, Engine 3, Truck 1, Truck 4, Truck 9, HazMat 6 & Decon 20

American Medic Response: Ops 700 & Medic 8

Working Structure Fire Compliment: Battalion 2, Battalion 3, Squad 8, Rescue 17 & HazMat 14

2nd Alarm: Engine 4, Engine 5 & Air 15

Special Call: Unit 2500, Marshal 103, X-Ray 194, X-Ray 195, PIO 52 & PIO 73

Colorado Springs Police Department & Colorado Springs Utilities