Firefighters exited Salem Harbor Power Station following the steam explosion yesterday.
SALEM - Three workers at Salem Harbor Power Station were hospitalized yesterday after they were hit by high-pressure, high-temperature steam, fire and power plant officials said.
Gary Courts - the managing director of Dominion New England, an arm of the company that owns the 1950s-era coal and oil plant - said a tube carrying water and steam ruptured on Unit No. 3 at about 9 a.m., injuring two operators and a mechanic. "We do not know why," he said.
Dominion did not release the names of the injured, though Courts said two of the men were longtime employees.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families," Courts added.
Salem firefighters found two of the workers outside the plant on Fort Avenue, and another inside, said Captain Alan Dionne of the Salem Fire Department. All had serious burns to their head, neck, face, and hands, Dionne said.
"Any burn is serious, in particular, any burn to the face, because it involves the airway," Dionne said.
The three workers were taken to area hospitals and later flown to Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Dionne said the Fire Department thinks "this plant is run very safely." Records show that in the last five years, the department has responded to 19 calls at the plant, most routine. One call, in December 2003, was "for a minor steam leak in a boiler," Dionne said. It was not clear yesterday afternoon if that boiler was the one involved in the morning accident.
Following yesterday's steam blast, about 150 workers were evacuated from the plant, which is located near a Fire Prevention Division building, Bentley Elementary School, and several houses.
The coal and oil plant, which employs about 170 people, puts out enough electricity to power about 745,000 homes, Dominion officials said. Boiler No. 3 was built in 1958.
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