Alternative energy plant lost in fire - Flathead Publishing Group

An experimental alternative energy plant on the F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber Co. mill site was a total loss after an early morning fire on Saturday, Jan. 24.

Stoltze workers called in the fire at Algae Aqua-Culture Technology’s octagonal dome-shaped facility at 4:28 a.m., Columbia Falls fire chief Rick Hagen said.

The Columbia Falls, Whitefish and Badrock fire departments responded with three engines, five water tenders, a heavy rescue vehicle, a command vehicle and 24 firefighters. No one was injured.

“About half the building was burning when we arrived,” Hagen said. “There was no way we could do an interior attack, so it was a defensive effort with firefighters using hoses outside.”

Hagen said he spoke with the facility’s chief operating officer and was told the fire caused about $1 million in damage.

“We were able to save about 25 percent of the facility,” Hagen said.

The glassed-in dome was supported by a steel frame, but there was a lot of wood inside and lots of highly flammable polyurethane insulation panels, Hagen said. In addition, the attached lab building on the north side, where the fire is suspected of starting, had a stick frame, he said. The propane tank that provided fuel for the facility’s generator and boiler was not involved in the fire, Hagen said.

Fire trucks were not able to access the west side of the building, Hagen said, but that didn’t hamper firefighting efforts. Tenders shuttled water from a hydrant at the Stoltze mill.

Hagen, who is the fire marshal for Columbia Falls’ city and rural fire areas, said he’s confident the fire started accidentally in the lab building. Charcoal produced as part of the experimental alternative energy project had been placed in a plastic tote in the lab building and possibly re-ignited.

“There’s so much fire damage, we’re not 100 percent certain, but that’s what it looks like,” Hagen said.

Algae Aqua-Culture Technology laid the foundation for its 5,000-square-foot Green Power House in 2010. Initial funding included a $350,000 grant from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. Steve Bullock toured the plant in October 2012 when he was campaigning for governor.

The brainchild of Michael Smith, a mathematician and physicist, the company’s goal was to convert wood waste from Stoltze into charcoal that could be used to feed algae growing in tanks inside the dome.

Sunlight was another energy source for the system. The harvested algae then was placed in a bio-reactor to produce methane and hydrogen, which could be burned to produce electricity.

Algae Aqua-Culture Technology’s plant, however, was never hooked up to the grid. According to Flathead Electric Cooperative spokeswoman Wendy Ostrom-Price, the Co-op never received power from the plant.