What is the fire danger in wind turbines?
Wind turbines have very, very rarely had fires in the nacelle (the location of the generators at the top of the towers). The only flammable materials are the lubricants for the gears, as almost every other part of the turbine is steel or other non-flammable material. Because the nacelles are so high, local firefighters are not expected to reach any fire. For this reason, turbines have fire suppression equipment installed in the nacelle to put out any fires, in part because the value of each turbine (at $2-4 million each) makes them important assets that have to be protected. There have been no significant forest or grass fires caused by turbines, as almost every fire has been contained in the nacelle and not caused outside damage.
