Oct. / Nov. / Dec. 2009 - Nebraska Public Power District

14
ENERGY INSIGHT • OCTOBER / NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2009
Norfolk fire
prompts
evacuations
Firefighters responded to a huge
blaze around 7 a.m. on Dec. 10 at
the closed Protient plant in Norfolk.
Officials cleared everyone in a one-
mile radius in Norfolk because they
were concerned a 30,000 gallon
propane tank would explode.
NPPD’s Centralized Customer Care
Center was evacuated around 9 a.m. During the
evacuation, NPPD transferred incoming customer
calls to its Norfolk, Kearney and Scottsbluff Customer
Service Centers and a temporary call center was set up
at the Columbus General Office.
“This event was an excellent test of the contingency
plan we have in place for our facility. We’ve drilled for
emergencies, but a drill can’t compare to an actual
situation. We discovered some things in the plan worked
really well, and we also found some improvement areas.”
- Cindy LaCroix
Customer Services Leader
By noon, crews had contained much of the fire.
It took three crews to turn off the flow of propane
fueling the fire.
NPPD Call Center staff resumed normal operations
at 1:22 that afternoon. Customer Care Business
Manager Russ McKillip expressed his appreciation
to NPPD staff across the state who helped during
this emergency. “This was an outstanding showing
of professionalism and excellence for which we have
all come to expect from our NPPD colleagues,” he
said. “Keeping our employees safe is always our
top priority, followed closely be keeping the lines of
communication open for our customers.”
Protient had manufactured and marketed dairybased
ingredients for dairy products. It closed in
October 2008.
A temporary call center was established at the
General Office.