Lightning was the apparent cause of a fire that damaged a wind turbine northeast of Dover early Friday morning.

Dover Fire Department responded to a fire call at about 5:45 a.m., according to Chief Jeff Johnson.

The turbine was located southwest of the intersection of County Roads E670 and N2900, which is four miles north of Dover on U.S. Highway 81 and about 3 1/2 miles east.

The turbine is owned by Red Dirt Wind Farm, which is a subsidiary of Enel Green Power.

James Esch II, site manager of the Red Dirt Wind Farm, confirmed to the KT&FP that lightning struck the turbine.

Storms moved through much of the state late Thursday night and early Friday morning.

“On Friday, April 4, a lightning strike to a wind turbine blade at the Red Dirt Wind Farm resulted in a fire that spread to the turbine’s nacelle,” Esch said in an e-mailed statement.

The nacelle is the cover that houses the generating components of the turbine such as the generator, gearbox, drive train and assembly.

Esch said the fire was contained to the immediate area surrounding the turbine.

“No one was injured as a result of the fire, the turbine remains standing and the fire did not spread beyond the turbine,” he said.

Johnson confirmed that information. He said eight members of the Dover Fire Department responded to the call.

“Anything that burned hit the ground and went out,” Johnson said. “Fortunately there was plenty of moisture.

“If it would have been dry, we would have been chasing fires.”

Red Dirt Wind Farm owns several turbines in Kingfisher and Logan counties.

Construction began April 18, 2017, and operations began Jan. 4, 2018, according to its website.

The website also has information stating the wind farm has the capacity to generate approximately 1,200 GWh of energy, which is equivalent to the energy consumption of 97,000 U.S. households.

Esch said lightning strikes such as the one on Friday are not common.

“Wind turbines are built to withstand lightning strikes, so incidents like these are exceptionally rare,” he said.

“Enel is analyzing the root cause of the incident and developing a plan for and cleanup of

the debris.”