Scroby Sands wind turbine catches fire off Norfolk coast

A fire has broken out on an offshore wind turbine.

A plume of black smoke has been seen billowing from the Scroby Sands wind farm, 1.5 miles (2.5km) off the coast of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.

HM Coastguard said the alarm was raised at 10:50 BST on Tuesday and that all personnel had been accounted for following an evacuation.

RWE, the German company that owns the wind farm, said no-one was on board the turbine when the fire broke out.

BBC Radio Norfolk reporter Andrew Turner said only one turbine seemed to be affected.

HM Coastguard said it would continue to monitor the situation.

At the scene

By Andrew Turner, BBC Radio Norfolk

An hour after it was first discovered, smoke continues to billow from one of the turbines at Scroby Sands.

In the area at the time were two wind farm crew transfer vessels and a tugboat towing a jack-up maintenance barge.

I’ve spoken to one person who worked on the construction of the wind farm who told me that the policy would be likely to allow the fire to burn itself out.

Scroby Sands wind farm was commissioned in 2004 and was one of the UK’s first commercial offshore wind farms.

RWE said its 30 turbines had an installed capacity of 60 megawatts and was able to power more than 48,000 households.

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