Bonaire - Catastrophic Fire

[Tom Smedley]

The Bonaire Reporter's front page article is about a fire in the main generating plant in early February that took out four generators and cut island electricity production by one-third. A fuel supply line on one of the older engines failed spraying diesel fuel onto the hot engine block.

The radio transmitter site near the Hilma Hooker is taking up some slack and rental equipment is enroute from Curacao.

Perhaps some of the Bonaire folks like Bruce can tell us what it's like there with the brown-outs and stuff.

 

[scubaaaronh]

Just talked to the Plaza and they have had power now from last thursday without interruption. Some parts of the island are still in the rotation from what i was told. Flights are as normal. We leave sat morning and i hope they dont have any major problems. They are supposed to be getting equipment to help with the problem from one of the neighboring islands. Hope this helps anyone that is interested.

 

[Tom Smedley]

Corinna at Buddy Dive wrote me back too and said that they have not had a brown out in two weeks. The WEB (Water and Electric Board) leased a 5 MW generator from Curacao and the transmitter site near Hilma Hooker helped out with 5 MW. They need about 10.5 MW to operate the island at full capacity. The power plant at Radio Netherlands near 1000 steps is independent and not part of the grid. Future contingency plans are to add their capacity to the island grid.

The problem was that some of the undamaged generators had cycle times and were designed to run during peak periods only and were not supposed to run 24 hours uninterrupted. They had to get the manufacturers to inspect some of the damaged units before they got back online.

IMO the WEB's response to the emergency was above and beyond. They worked long hours and put contingency plans into effect.

Hoo Ah! WEB guys and a double Hoo Ah to the Brandweir. Just think - an emergency run from the airport to the generator plant in big and heavy trucks - through downtown Kralendijk. AFFF Lightwater on the fuel fire and they saved 2/3 of the plant. No damage to the desalinators. Dang they're good. Next time you eat at Lions Den Restaurant thank the off-duty fireman who works there.

I'll be there March 19 to 26 - My fourteenth trip.

I love it!!

 

[SubMariner]

when the fire hit the generator plant. Power was lost at approx 4 am that morning for most of the day, until they started rotating power-ups. The good news was that it happened late enough into our stay that we had used up most of the frozen meat we had brought down by then. So there was no danger of losing big bucks in the fridge. We could still cook on the stove top by manually lighting the propane burners, but the since the oven was electric, it wasn't operational.

However, because Buddy's didn't have power to fill tanks, they were forced to go elsewhere to get them filled, air & nitrox alike. It made for some VERY long and exhausting days for the Buddy Dive staff, but they did a great job trying to keep everything covered. There was also at least one large portable gas gen set that was brought in to power the restaurant kitchen.

Meanwhile, we kept getting conflicting reports about how many working power plants were actually online when the station under discussion caught fire. One line of info indicated that of the 5 original plants on the Island, only two were actually operational when the fire hit, thus putting the burden on the remaining plant which was supposedly on the other side of the Island in Rincon.

So I guess we should have gotten T-shirts that said "I survived the Power Outage on Bonaire".

 

[dvrliz1]

We were on island when the fire happened. I must say, we were VERY impressed. The first day we lost electric for 16 hours, but after that they went to load sharing and different areas lost electric for 4 hours at a time. The WEB let you know the day before when to expect your electric out for the the following day. They were exactly on time too. If the said 8am - 12 noon, it went of at 8 and on at noon. Electric was on the WHOLE island between 12 midnight and 8 am so you could sleep with air conditioning. There was actually little no to no inconvenience. If it was during the day, you went diving, snorkeling, shopping, whatever. If it was evening (4-8 PM) you went to a restaurant that did have power or enjoyed dinner by candlelight and between 8 PM and 12 Midnight, you went to Karel's Bar in town and enjoyed a few cold ones or went for a night dive/snorkel, or just looked up at the incredible stars and enjoyed a cool one on your porch. Believe me it is NOT a trip buster, or a reason NOT to visit Bonaire!

 

[scubaaaronh]

liz are you on the island right now? we will be there saturday afternoon.

 

[dvrliz1]

Hi Aaron,

Unfortunately we are in snowy NJ packing up our belongings to MOVE to Bonaire. WE will be back on the island end of April.

Liz

 

[SubMariner]

We were on island when the fire happened. I must say, we were VERY impressed. The first day we lost electric for 16 hours, but after that they went to load sharing and different areas lost electric for 4 hours at a time. The WEB let you know the day before when to expect your electric out for the the following day. They were exactly on time too. If the said 8am - 12 noon, it went of at 8 and on at noon. Electric was on the WHOLE island between 12 midnight and 8 am so you could sleep with air conditioning. There was actually little no to no inconvenience. If it was during the day, you went diving, snorkeling, shopping, whatever.

Excellent summary Liz. I agree that all things considered, the Bonairians handled it VERY well.