Firefighters from multiple departments respond to Marquis Energy for duct fire

Firefighters responded to a fire shortly after 4 a.m. Tuesday in the duct work at the Marquis Energy Complex in Hennepin.

The RTO unit normally operates at temperatures exceeding 1,800 degrees and with the nature of industrial firefighting the need for additional personnel is requested out of the abundance of caution, the Hennepin Fire Department said in a news release Tuesday. Fire operations involved cooling the unit and extinguishing any material that had been ignited inside, the fire department said. Once temperatures of the RTO unit were at a safe level and no fire risk was found, command was terminated, and operations were turned back over to plant personnel to assess damage.

The cause of the fire is undetermined as Marquis Energy personnel investigates. This operation involved the application of more than 500,000 gallons of water and the assistance of multiple fire departments. The plant did remain in operation and there were no injuries to report, the Hennepin Fire Department said.

Fire command staff and Marquis Energy staff worked closely together to mitigate this incident in a safe, efficient and effective manner, the fire department said in its news release. The Granville-Hennepin Fire District thanked Putnam County Dispatch, Valcom, Ottawa Central Dispatch, BuEComm, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, Putnam County EMS, Granville Fire, Standard Fire, Princeton Fire, Bureau Fire, Spring Valley Fire, Peru Fire, Henry Fire, Tonica Fire, Toluca-Rutland Fire, Oglesby EMS and Peru EMS for its assistance in responding to the fire.