Nick Pope
Contributor
A massive California battery facility that caught fire and spewed toxic smoke in January caught on fire again Tuesday night, according to multiple reports.
Smoke was reported at the Vistra Battery Facility in Monterey County around 6:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday night, prompting local officials to urge residents to close doors and windows out of an abundance of caution for possible air quality issues, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. The same facility was the site of a massive blaze in January that kicked a large plume of black smoke over the surrounding area. Residents reported health problems in the immediate aftermath of the January fire. (RELATED: Soil Near Massive California Battery Fire Found Loaded With ‘Toxic’ Metals As Residents Report Headaches, Itchy Eyes)
the Vistra battery storage facility in Moss Landing is on fire we’re live @ksbw pic.twitter.com/mo7asCpTNG
— Felix Cortez (@FelixKSBW) January 17, 2025
the Vistra battery storage facility in Moss Landing is on fire we’re live @ksbw pic.twitter.com/mo7asCpTNG
— Felix Cortez (@FelixKSBW) January 17, 2025
Investigators have yet to identify the cause of the Tuesday night fire at the plant, according to the Chronicle. The January fire prompted evacuations for nearby residents, and a team of researchers affiliated with San Jose State University announced shortly after the incident that they had detected significantly increased concentrations of toxic heavy metals in the Elkhorn Slough, a large intertidal area approximately one mile away from the Vistra Energy battery storage facility.
Researchers said their analysis shows that concentrations of certain heavy metals were 100 to 1,000 times higher than typical levels.
Additionally, residents reported noticeable health problems — such as itchy eyes and headaches — in the aftermath of the January blaze, though the company maintains that “there are no hazardous air conditions or risks to public health.” On Feb. 6, a group of local residents filed a lawsuit against Vistra Energy and Pacific Gas and Electric alleging that the fire led to toxic chemicals entering the air and waterways that have since caused adverse health effects. The residents say that the companies are liable for damages.
The Tuesday fire burned itself out around 8 a.m. local time on Wednesday morning, a Vistra spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“Additional instances of smoke and flare-ups are a possibility given the nature of this situation and the damage to the batteries. Since the January 16 fire, Vistra has brought in a private professional fire brigade that is onsite 24/7 to monitor the Moss 300 building. Additionally, CTEH has permanent air-quality monitors around the plant site’s perimeter along with other continuously operating monitors at locations in the surrounding community,” the Vistra spokesperson told the DCNF. “Under the direction of the U.S. [Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)], continuous air quality monitoring is ongoing, and no hazardous air conditions have been detected. Additionally, the Monterey Bay Area Resource District reports that concentrations measured by its smoke sensor monitoring system have registered air quality in the ‘good’ or ‘green’ range on the EPA’s Air Quality Index.”
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
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It’s definitely ruinable. Kind of like volcanoes that can erupt unpredictably.
Green Acres is not the place to be.
Why we shouldn’t try to Firm Ruinables with Batteries … Part Doux
They should build these battery packs next to the state government offices.
If the risks are okay for the public, then they are also okay for the elected government.
I’ll do you one better. The gov’t offices should be upstairs.
A local council in North London has proposed building a tower block with a large basement for storing electric buses. The Fire brigade response it that this is not advisable
I bet Guy Fawkes is p1ssed that he was born in the 17th century rather than the 21st century.
(Mind you, Mr. Fawkes would probably feel a bit impotent now seeing what fireworks the Li-ion “powder-kegs” can do).
He would be arrested for being an “online nutter” by the Bobbies.
I think, on a daily basis, they were charging the battery to nearly 100% and discharging it to nearly zero %, which is an absolute no no, if you want to avoid fires
And completely unnecessary if they used reliable sources of energy
One cannot avoid fires, only reduce the probability of occurrence.
According to Google AI there are about 600 battery storage facilities in the U.S. and about 40 have caught on fire. That’s a 6.7% failure rate. There are 12,538 power plants in the country. If they failed at the same rate, there would be 840 power plant fires every few years.
I saw a short video recently that must have been in a battery factory….a huge horizontal array of batteries started smoking in the center and the worker went over to the wall and threw a switch and the whole array dropped into a pool of water underneath. Apparently the manufacturers are ready for battery problems.
I thought water didn’t put out Li battery fires.
It was a liquid – maybe something else – anti-freeze?
Water is for cooling with the hypothesis being colling the battery reduces the prospect of thermal runaway, meaning the fire does not spread to other cells in the battery.
Why don’t firefighters try this? I know there are some fires where the heat is enough to separate hydrogen and oxygen and increase the fire (IANAC and probably have the wrong words there) and was under the impression it’s the same with Liion batteries. Why is this water good but firefighter water bad?
Why don’t firefighters try this?
They have, in different ways. One EV car fire in LA was doused with water from the truck – 30,000 gallons worth (compare to 10,000 gallons for a typical house fire). Of course, the runoff is full of contaminants and pretty much needs to be treated as a hazmat spill.
In another case, they used a bulldozer to push the car into a pool. That’s not much of an option in most cases.
In order to avoid (a) using insane amounts of water and (b) having to deal with the environmental repercussions, general guideline is basically to contain it (i.e. keep it from spreading) and let it burn itself out.
Fair question.
Consider emersion versus spraying.
When spraying on a hot surface, the water vaporizes. If one has sufficient volume of water and water flow, it can work.
With emersion, the water boils, but there is a continuous supply at the battery.
They’re self-oxidizing so it doesn’t quite, but it does remove heat – at least while it’s submerged. There’s a fair chance they will reignite when removed from the water. Mainly, it just gives a chance to keep it under some level of control
Well, this proves two things. First, it did not burn completely down the first time.
Second, now that it has started burning again, it surely will eventually. Oopsie.
Yeah, I don’t think it’s the kind of resilience they had in mind.
But it is renewable.
Sounds fairly sustainable !
Lithium giving new meaning to assault and battery-
Fatal house fire blamed on lithium-ion battery
More people in the western world have been killed by Li-ion induced fires than by the operation of nuclear power plants.
And we don’t know yet how many will have their lives shortened by inhaling the smoke.
A lot of health issues in the area surrounding this burning factory already !
Long term.. who knows !!
Certainly a LOT more dangerous that breathing in even 1000ppm or even 5000ppm CO2.
Wind, solar and batteries are not the answer, stop building them.
A green solution – always the perfect oxymoron.
I believe the fire itself was red. Red is a green contradiction.
Was it actually put out to begin with?
The part that was burning was. The cells that did not burn the first time likely were burning this time.
So, it was never extinguished at all. Typical for a Democrat Party run state.
Batteries are comprised of interconnected cells. Some of the cells caught fire and allowed to burn out (aka extinguished). The next fire was from cells not involved in the first fire.
With a lithium battery fire, the word extinguished should never be used.
But hope springs eternal for safer solid state battery EVs that can overcome all your range anxiety folks-
Breakthrough 1000km range EV testing
Unfortunately not for the masses anytime soon so it’s back the old tradeoff of bigger heavier more expensive longer to refuel if you want more range-
Can bigger batteries solve EV range anxiety? | HERE
Sigh! What can a poor carmaker do if the deplorable trogs aint buying the dream?
Mercedes-AMG commits to next-gen V8 | Gold Coast Bulletin
Plus
Volvo have abandoned plans to sell only EVs by 2030
Bentley have delayed from 2030 to 2035
Audi has dropped its EV targets
Porsche sales are down 20% and they are bringing back petrol cars
Aston Martin are delaying EVs and going hybrid
Mercedes have also cancelled their all electric by 2030 target
Safe and effective? Hmmm…. where have I heard that before.
Hope springs eternal. Likely to have fusion energy before safe solid state batteries.
I just searched lithium battery fires on YouTube and found 22 dead in S. Korean factory fire and fires in Framce Australia and Missouri….the Elictric Viking apologist sez it’s the LG brand to avoid. The Missouri fire started with an explosion.
Oops.
Good news. But please leave out zero-information sentences like concentrations of certain heavy metals were 100 to 1,000 times higher than typical levels.
Until they publish results of airborne and on-site Fluorine, HF, and various Lithium compound concentrations, all this hand waving about how safe or unsafe the situation is is meaningless.
Everyone does realize that artichokes might be causing battery fires, don’t they? This is the third fire in the middle of the artichoke fields, so it’s something that cannot be ignored any longer.
Correlation meet causation.
Nothing says “green” like a toxic chemical fire.
Insurers are getting nervous with high public risk caravan parks already-
‘Ridiculous’: EV owner slams caravan site for not allowing charging on site