By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com

EASLEY — The cause of a fire at the former Alice Mill Foster plant last month remains under investigation by state agents.

Easley Fire Chief Matthew Littleton said the call came in at 1:56 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 30.

The fire was visible from Rice Road when the first responding units arrived, Littleton said.

“It had burned through the roof of the cloth room,” he said. “They could see the fire from Rice Road.”

No one was injured in the fire, Littleton said.

Fire departments from around the area responded to assist, he said.

“Most of the fire stations in Pickens County sent personnel to help,” Littleton said. “We also had help from Greenville, Anderson and Oconee counties.

“The thing that nobody thinks about is, not only do we need to bring in help at the scene, we bring in help to backfill our respective fire stations, because the everyday calls keep coming in and those have to be answered,” he continued.

The last unit left the scene of the Foster Plant fire around 11:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 31, Littleton said.

The cause of the fire is still undetermined, he said.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating, Littleton said.

“Just because we called SLED in, that doesn’t mean we suspect anything,” he said.

When dealing with smaller fires, his department handles origin investigations in-house, Littleton said.

“When it’s that big, that large of an area, we call in the experts,” Littleton said.

Opening in 1959, Alice Manufacturing’s Foster plant was in operation for nearly 50 years. The company announced the plant would close in 2008.

Now known as Alice Company, the firm recently announced the former Arial plant has been sold and will be converted to a mixed-use property.

No threat to public safety, according to Duke official

By Riley Morningstar and Lauren Pierce
Courtesy The Journal
news@thepccourier.com

SENECA — A Duke Energy official said a nuclear reactor at Oconee Nuclear Station was still shut down Monday afternoon, days after “an unusual event.”

Spokeswoman Mikayla Kreuzberger said in an email workers were going through plans to restart the unit after there was an “issue with pumps.” She added there was no fire after operators received fire detection indications from a different area within the unit.

Operators declared the unusual event at 3:57 a.m. Saturday. Kreuzberger said an unusual event is the lowest of four nuclear emergency classifications and “does not impact public safety.”

Oconee County Emergency Services emergency management director Scott Krein initially said Saturday crews responded to an “onsite fire brigade” around 4 a.m. The Keowee Fire Department was the first fire unit to make it to the station, Krein said Monday, and Duke Energy was still investigating the incident.

Federal agency comments

Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Dave Gasperson said Monday afternoon Duke Energy notified the federal agency about the event “as required.”

“Our senior resident inspector at the plant responded immediately upon notification and observed the control room operators’ actions during the event,” he said in an email. “There was no risk to the public, and the plant’s safety systems worked as designed.”

He added the NRC would “continue to monitor Duke Energy’s analysis, their progress on troubleshooting activities and the restart of the unit.”

Duke is required to submit a Licensee Event Report (LER) to the NRC within 60 days, Gasperson said, and the report will be available to the public.

“These reports contain root causes and corrective actions undertaken by licensees,” he said.

rmorningstar@upstatetoday.com | (864) 973-6685

lpierce@upstatetoday.com | (864) 973-6301