Fire is the second most common accident cause in incidents found. Fire can arise from a number of sources - and some turbine types seem more prone to fire than others. A total of 190 fire incidents were found:

By year:

70s

80s

90s

00

01

02

03

04

05

06

07

08

09

10

11

12*

6

3

2

24

17

15

14

12

21

17

17

13

20

9

The biggest problem with turbine fires is that, because of the turbine height, the fire brigade can do little but watch it burn itself out. While this may be acceptable in reasonably still conditions, in a storm it means burning debris being scattered over a wide area, with obvious consequences. In dry weather there is obviously a wider-area fire risk, especially for those constructed in or close to forest areas and/or close to housing or work places. Three fire accidents have badly burned wind industry workers.