A wind turbine in Plymouth underwent an unexpected alteration on Friday, the ramifications of which have stirred the local community and prompted a thorough examination into the integrity of such structures. As reported by WCVB, a blade of considerable size, estimated to be 75 to 100 feet in length, detached from a 300-foot-tall wind turbine and descended into the expanse of a cranberry bog.
Neil Foley, the Plymouth Fire Chief, detailed that around 1:52 p.m., a neighbor expressed alarm upon discovering that one of the turbine's three blades was conspicuously absent. Firefighters upon arriving, found the blade resting some hundreds of feet from its origin, somberly situated in the bog. Walking out onto Head of the Bay Road in her bathrobe, holding her purse and dog, local resident Kerry Costello relayed her shock to WHDH, recalling a "loud boom" and a subsequent "crunch" before her startled discovery of the errant blade.
Thankfully, as authorities confirmed, the incident caused no injuries, and the public was not endangered. The turbine beneficently shuttered itself through an automated fail-safe mode consequent to the blade's detachment. The maintenance entity accountable has since quarantined the vicinity and is currently arranging for the cleanup and removal of the detached blade.
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has been duly informed by the Plymouth Fire Department, and Inspectional Services will engage in due diligence to ensure safe resolution of this event. Trembling from the close call as the blade could have landed nearer, Kerry Costello, still rattled, stressed to her landlord the vitality of affirming the turbine's safety before it is re-engaged. "I was literally in my room," Costello informed WHDH. In a statement obtained by WCVB, Chief Foley expressed gratitude over the turbine's fortunate positioning amidst cranberry bogs rather than residential spaces, which likely thwarted a far graver scenario.
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