A broken wind turbine sits in a field near Drake Rd. and 16 Line in Chatham-Kent. January 19, 2018. (Old photo by Paul Pedro)A broken wind turbine sits in a field near Drake Rd. and 16 Line in Chatham-Kent. January 19, 2018. (Old photo by Paul Pedro)
Chatham

UPDATE: A Bizarre First In Chatham-Kent

TerraForm Power and the Ministries of Environment and Labour are investigating what happened to a wind turbine near South Buxton that snapped in half.

The collapsed tower at Drake Rd. and 16 Line is surrounded by safety fencing and Chatham-Kent's fire chief says it was not connected to the power grid.

Chatham-Kent Police Sergeant Paul Pomajba says the tower collapsed overnight but nobody was hurt.

"We're making the situation safe so that no one else gets injured from the wreckage that's here. TerraForm, which is the company that's responsible for this windmill, will be on site. There will be 24-hour security to make sure that people stay away," says Pomajba.

He says the setback is close to the road but does not look like the turbine would hit passing traffic if the entire tower came down.

"The setbacks are put there for safety. So, it would be my assumption that it would not reach the road based on the engineer's design where they can put these," the sergeant says.

Pomajba says he's never seen anything like this before but assures people that the area will be safe until the collapsed tower is torn down.

"The area will be fenced off and secured. They'll have to disassemble this and make it safe so that what is left there is not a danger to anyone if it fell over. Windmills are new to the area and this is the first that we've seen in this area that has sustained this damage," says Pomajba.

Some workers say this is not unusual.

The surrounding towers are fine.

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