One injured in Chalk Point plant blaze

Rubber-lined building was location of two-alarm fire

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Firefighters were called at 9:40 a.m. and had the fire under control within about two hours, Prince George’s firefighter Chris Polimeni said.

The injured person, who power plant officials said was a contract employee, suffered burns and was flown to a nearby hospital burn center, said Richard Fawal, a spokesman for Mirant Corp., which owns the plant.

The fire was in a multistory generating unit that is lined on the inside with rubber, Polimeni said.

‘‘The rubber is what was on fire,” Polimeni said. ‘‘That makes it hard to fight, that and the fact the structure is several stories tall.”

Chalk Point is a 40-year-old coal, oil and gas plant.

Fawal said the fire was caused during a demolition project being done inside the unit.

Because the unit was off-line at the time, the fire did not affect operations at the plant, which supplies power throughout the mid-Atlantic region, Fawal said.

Polimeni said that additional firefighters responded from nearby Charles, St. Mary’s and Calvert counties.