Xcel Energy Says Fire Now Out in Sherco Coal Storage Barn

BECKER (AP) — Xcel Energy says a fire is now out in the coal storage barn at its Sherco power plant near Becker.

Xcel spokesman Tom Hoen says the Becker Fire Department was called Friday when residual coal and a rubber door seal were spotted smoldering. He says other fire departments helped out over the weekend as hotspots developed.

But he says the fire was declared out Monday morning. All firefighters left except for a Becker pumper truck that stayed as a precaution.

Hoen says there were no injuries and no significant equipment damage, but costs have not been tallied. He says Sherco's three generating units continued to operate normally.

A catastrophic failure in Sherco's Unit 3 turbine in 2011 caused more than $200 million in damage and took 22 months to fix.