Firefighters and STARS have been called out to an “incident” at a renewable energy plant near Entwistle, Alta., on Monday.

It happened at Pinnacle Renewable Energy, which is about 100 kilometres west of Edmonton.

“I felt the explosion,” said Kyle Wickstrom, who was one kilometre away. “It was nuts.”

Emergency crews were on scene at 3 p.m. and Parkland County confirmed it has fire crews at the scene. There were about 20 fire, EMS and incident support unit vehicles at the plant at 5 p.m.

“Parkland County crews are evaluating the situation and the first priority is life safety,” said Rebecca Lewicki, a senior communications officer for the county.

STARS air ambulance crews from both Edmonton and Calgary were notified. An Edmonton crew was dispatched and was seen at the site before 4 p.m.

There is no word yet on possible injuries.

Alberta Labour confirmed Occupational Health and Safety had been notified and a team was heading to the scene.

No further details were provided.

On its website, Pinnacle is described as “one of the world’s leading manufacturers and distributors of industrial wood pellets, which are used by large-scale thermal power generators as a greener alternative to produce reliable baseload renewable power.”

The company currently operates eight wood pellet production facilities in Western Canada.

Emergency crews respond to a fire and incident at Pinnacle Renewable Energy in Entwistle, Alta., on Feb. 11, 2019.

Emergency crews respond to a fire and incident at Pinnacle Renewable Energy in Entwistle, Alta., on Feb. 11, 2019.

Emergency crews respond to a fire and incident at Pinnacle Renewable Energy in Entwistle, Alta., on Feb. 11, 2019.

— More to come… 

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