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'Cave Creek' fire smoke shut down Glen Canyon Dam

 
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GTG
Was lost but now am found




Joined: 30 Dec 2002
Posts: 2387
Location: Peoria, Arizona, originally from Rocket City, USA
PostPosted: 7/1/2005, 10:32 am    Post subject: 'Cave Creek' fire smoke shut down Glen Canyon Dam Reply to topic Reply with quote
From today's Arizona Republic -
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0701damfire01.html
Quote:

'Cave Creek' fire smoke shut down Glen Canyon Dam power turbines

Shaun McKinnon
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 1, 2005 12:00 AM

Smoke from the "Cave Creek Complex" fire didn't make it all the way to Page last weekend, but it still shut down power turbines at Glen Canyon Dam, briefly slowed the flow of the Colorado River and even affected downstream fishing.

Operations at the dam, about 275 miles north of the fire, were disrupted intermittently from late June 23 through Sunday, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

Engineers are still examining equipment to see if any damage occurred.

The fire burned close to high-voltage power lines that bring electricity from Glen Canyon Dam to the Phoenix area, but it was the smoke and not the flames that caused the problems, said Bureau of Reclamation spokesman Barry Wirth.

Smoke created a path that allowed electricity to arc between the lines. That halted transmission of power, which, in turn, triggered an automatic shutdown of the dam's power turbines.

Scattered power outages were reported in Page, but the effects weren't felt in the Valley.

With the turbines idle, the flow of water from Lake Powell into the Colorado River was also halted. Because the bureau is required to maintain a minimum flow of water into the river, dam operators had to switch on the bypass tubes on each side of the giant structure until the turbines could be restarted.

"It was a scramble for us for a couple of days," Wirth said. "These interruptions would hit without warning. We wouldn't know when we'd be able to get back on line."

Releasing water from the bypass tubes set off another series of events. Raft concessionaire Wilderness Adventures had to move some of its tour rafts from docks at the base of the dam, where the company offers regular river tours.

The rush of water from the tubes also stirred sediment and other material in the river, which apparently increased activity among the trout and gave fisherman near Lees Ferry an unexpected assist.

"It really improved conditions there," said Rory Aikens, spokesman for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. "The trout were biting better for a while."

Opening the bypass tubes doesn't result in any lost water because it simply flows down the Colorado, through the Grand Canyon and into Lake Mead, where ample storage space is available to hold onto it. But the water didn't generate any electricity, which will mean financial losses to the bureau, Wirth said.

The total amount lost isn't available yet.

Wirth said the dam's systems operated exactly as they were designed, protecting the turbines and other equipment from power surges when transmissions on the high-voltage lines stopped. Dam workers are trained for such situations, he said, and reacted quickly.

The equipment probably shut down and restarted more in 72 hours than it does in a typical year, Wirth said, which is why engineers will watch it carefully to see if any repairs are needed.


It really is amazing how a fire can affect things around the whole state.

GTG
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BoyNhisDog
The dangerous place where the winds meet




Joined: 05 Jan 2003
Posts: 1375
Location: Tucson
PostPosted: 7/1/2005, 12:10 pm    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote
GTG, I just got back from New Mexico and we flew through a lot of thick smoke to get there yesterday. It was hazy/smokey all over from just west of Albuquerque to the Four Corners. Lots of smoke haze in northern Arizona. Some of the places seemed to be clearing out some on the way back. I was doing a lot of reading and didn't really look out the whole time though.
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matt gilbert





Joined: 28 Jul 2003
Posts: 698
Location: Mesa
PostPosted: 7/2/2005, 8:29 am    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote
There were a bunch of hotshots in the store yesterday who seemed to be of the opinion that there weren't enough fires in the state. They were bored... I was kind of annoyed...
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