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NEWS
Quick-Thinking Kids Report Kalispell Fire Fire ghters were able to contain blaze before it spread to the house
BY JUSTIN FRANZ OF THE BEACON
Two quick-thinking 11-year-old girls helped report a re last week in Kalispell, giving re ghters a chance to save both a home and a dog inside.
On the afternoon of Jan. 19, Grace Coen and Han- nah Gugler were doing their math homework at Grace’s home on Liberty Street on the west side of Kalispell. Shortly after 3 p.m., one of them noticed smoke com- ing out of their neighbor’s home, according to Grace’s mother, April.
The two girls went outside, smelled smoke and saw ames in the garage of the home owned by Anna and Bob Elwood. The two girls quickly returned inside where Grace called her mother and then 911.
“As soon as we hung up we heard sirens in the dis- tance so we knew help was on the way,” Grace said.
According to a press release, an individual driving past the home also reported the re.
By the time re ghters arrived, smoke was pouring out of the garage. However, re ghters were able to con- tain the blaze before it spread to the rest of the home. No one was inside the home at the time of the re.
A dog inside the home was apparently hiding. Fire- ghters found the dog, named Rocky, when he came out of his hiding spot soon after the blaze was contained. The dog appeared unharmed.
The Kalispell Fire Department said the re caused $30,000 in damage and was most likely caused by an electrical problem. Fire ghters from Kalispell, West Valley and Evergreen all responded to the blaze.
Grace said she was glad to hear that the Elwoods and their dog were safe and that she had always wondered what it would be like to call 911.
“And after all of this happened, we went right back to doing our math homework,” she said.
jfranz@ atheadbeacon.com
Anna Elwood holds her dog, Rocky, as re ghters tend to a re at 215 Hawthorne Ave. in Kalispell on Jan. 19. . GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
Columbia Falls Company Signs Major Battery Deal ViZn Energy Systems to ship cutting-edge battery to Idaho National Laboratory
BY DILLON TABISH OF THE BEACON
One of the nation’s leading research facilities for energy projects and national security has tapped a Columbia Falls company for its cutting edge battery technology.
The Idaho National Laboratory, an 890-square-mile complex in the high desert of eastern Idaho, is contracting with ViZn Energy Systems for a ow bat- tery system developed in the Flathead Valley.
The announcement was made Jan. 19 as the U.S. Department of Energy moves forward on its $220 million initiative to improve and modernize America’s energy grid.
ViZn, an innovator of large-scale energy storage systems on U.S. Highway 2 West, received an order for a 128-kWh redox ow battery system that will be
installed as part of a microgrid research, development and demonstration test- bed in Idaho. The battery system will be installed by the second quarter of 2016.
“The characteristics of the ViZn bat- tery are of signi cant interest for island grids and microgrids that support vari- ous services in heavy-use and challeng- ing environments, especially for renew- able energy integration challenges,” said Kurt Myers, clean energy market area lead for the Idaho National Laboratory. “We are interested in the potential for lower cost energy storage systems, with 20-plus year life terms and the ability to ful ll aggressive duty cycle requirements as well as long duration energy dispatch.”
The Columbia Falls company has ramped up production of its state-of-the- art battery technology in the last year and a half, growing to over 60 employ- ees and maxing out its current space.
The company has plans to expand its facility by the end of 2016 and add to its already growing workforce, according to Paul Siblerud, vice president of product marketing.
ViZn, which is headquartered in Aus- tin, Texas, but operates its Columbia Falls facility as the core development site, was awarded a contract in August to build the largest ow battery in North America and Europe. The company is building a zinc-iron redox ow battery system for utility services in Ontario, Canada.
This latest contract expands ViZn’s scope of applications from utility to microgrid, which is a localized energy hub that can disconnect from the tradi- tional grid and operate independently.
A federal government report from 2012 showed that outages caused by severe weather or other issues cost the
U.S. economy over $18 billion annually. The Department of Energy is undergoing an ambitious e ort to improve the reli- ability and security of the nation’s energy grid through the Grid Modernization Ini- tiative. The research, being led in part by the Idaho National Laboratory, includes seeking expanded renewable energy opportunities and energy storage.
Over the last six years, engineers and scientists in Columbia Falls have worked to develop batteries that store unused power for extended periods of time, something that is severely lacking.
ViZn o cials say their zinc-iron redox ow battery is the only ow battery on the market with a non-toxic, non- am- mable, non-explosive alkaline chemis- try, which allows it to be deployed safely in densely populated areas or adjacent to utilities and substations.
dtabish@ atheadbeacon.com
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JANUARY 27, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM