ASPA explains fires at its Satala plant — on two different days

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The American Samoa Power Authority House Committee, last week Thursday called on ASPA Chief Executive Officer Wallon Young and a colleague Ryan Tootoo to explain the cause of the fire on Sat. Aug 19. In explaining, Young identified there were actually two fires at the Satala plant — the fire that started on Saturday morning causing the power outage, but the day before, Friday afternoon, there was also an incident with Generator No. 7, Young said.

Young said, it was Saturday at 5am, when a fire broke out at Satala plant — four operators were there — two on duty while the third was outside and the other was resting after his overnight shift.

Generator No. 6 caught fire on its top, according to an eyewitness, with the most probable cause a ruptured high pressure fuel line — the pressure is 14,000psi minimum.

It was a diesel fire, and the operators at the time tried to emergency stop the plant from the switch gear room. Some of them tried to enter the engine room but the black smoke from the diesel covered the engine room and they left the plant, going outside for safety reasons.

The fire sprinkler system activated, and after inspection, they found the combined diesel in the tanks of 40,000 gallons was half empty.

About 20,000 gallons of water went into generator number six, and later the fire trucks showed up. They hosed down the generator again to make sure the fire would not reignite. 

Two of the employees were taken to the hospital for a check up, and both were treated and discharged.

He explained that those generators have run non-stop for years, and they are only serviced once per thousand hours; that's about after a month — one day down for maintenance and then up again. Just like any other machine, sometimes it fails. This time two failed, one on Friday and one on Saturday, two weekends ago.

Per ASPA insurance, the utility contacted its insurance brokers and partners as they wanted to open up the engine/ generator to verify the cause of the fire, but they haven't responded yet. 

Furthermore, Young says, they were told by the investigators from the insurance company to await viewing of their claim until it's been checked out by others from overseas.

He dismissed a report of employees being stuck in the plant, saying the plant has no windows but there are five doors including two 14-foot doors. You can drive a bus through these doors, he said.

Young pointed out that ASPA has enough generators to meet the big load and a little bit more, and are working with the insurance company in increasing the reserve, as they might need a separate generator to avoid power shortages.

The operators are well trained, but the way the Satala plant is designed, Young's says it has an automatic sprinkler system, and even in the office — it has a fire system.

The engine room sprinkler system is activated by heat, while the office alarm is activated by smoke, and occupants must leave the room in ten seconds.

Young also spoke about the clean up work after the fire, to make sure there wouldn't be a problem when they started up the plant again. In addition, employees were advised to go for check ups, which include their hearing, at the hospital.

Titialii Kitara Vauau, Chairman of the House ASPA Committee said it's good to hear ASPA has the capacity to take care of the daily electricity needs of the Territory.

Faipule Fiu John Saelua said accidents do happen, but he wanted to know if ASPA has any preventive measures set aside to eliminate this kind of accident from happening again.

In response Young said, they've implemented the best method, and there is no guarantee that there'd be no fire. This is the fourth fire and they do their best, noting that generator No. 6 received a full overhaul in June costing over $300,000.

For preventive measures, ASPA will also hold a consultation with the manufacturer, to see if there's any upgrade to prevent a fire like this from happening again.