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Evacuation orders have been issued after a lithium-ion battery fire broke out at a battery-based solar energy storage facility in Parkfield.
Areas within a 2-mile radius of the Parkfield Solar Plant at Turkey Flat Road are under evacuation orders until further notice, according to the Monterey County Sheriff's Office. County public safety officials, along with CAL FIRE BEU and hazardous materials responders from Salinas fire, are monitoring the situation. To READ MORE VISIT THIS NEWS ARTICLE: Evacuation orders lifted for Parkfield Solar Plant fire
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday it has reached a settlement with the company that operates an Otay Mesa energy storage facility that caught fire last year.
The settlement with Gateway Energy Storage concerns cleanup efforts in connection with the lithium-ion battery fire that broke out on May 15, 2024, and lasted nearly two weeks due to flare-ups at the site. No injuries were reported in connection with the blaze. The settlement does not involve a monetary component, but rather imposes requirements that Gateway take “comprehensive safety measures and monitoring to protect nearby residents and workers during the cleanup process,” the EPA said. Cleanup efforts remain ongoing and are being overseen by the EPA, local firefighting agencies, and the San Diego County government. Gateway will also be required to conduct environmental monitoring during its battery handling operations and submit progress reports to the EPA. “Calling a technology ‘green energy’ does not mean there are no environmental impacts. This is an issue of growing concern,” EPA Pacific Southwest Region Administrator Josh F.W. Cook said in a statement. To READ MORE VISIT THIS LINK: EPA announces settlement over Otay Mesa battery facility fire New data collected by nearby residents after the Moss Landing battery fire and tested by a private lab shows heavy metals in surface dust miles from the scene -- at levels that one toxicologist calls “concerning.”
“Something came out of that plant that's hurting people, and it's still happening,” said Brian Roeder, a co-founder of the activist group Never Again Moss Landing who led the dust sampling effort. In late January, volunteers took more than 100 dust samples around Prunedale, Castroville and other areas around the plant that caught fire on Jan. 16. “There is reason to be concerned,” Don Smith, an environmental toxicologist at UC Santa Cruz who specializes in heavy metals, said of the of the findings. The dust residents collected using swab samples taken from flat, non-metallic surfaces reflects notably higher levels of nickel, cobalt and manganese, the three major components of lithium-ion batteries, Smith says. All three elements have potential short-term and long-term health effects, including respiratory inflammation, triggered when microscopic particles get trapped deep in the lungs, he says. to read the article, click here: Heavy metals found in dust miles from Moss Landing battery fire – NBC Bay Area A California Battery Plant Burned. Residents Have Gotten Sick, and Anxious.Heavy metals detected in the soil have also created health implications for Monterey County’s agriculture industry, and the workers who pick the produce. The vast farmlands just off the coast of California’s Monterey Bay are usually quiet during the winter, when there are no crops to pick. This winter, a different kind of stillness has taken hold. First, fears of immigration raids paralyzed the immigrant communities that make up the agricultural work force. And now, anxiety has spread over what some in the region believe is a sprawling and silent environmental disaster. Last month, a battery-storage plant went up in flames and burned for days, prompting the evacuation of more than 1,000 residents and shutting down local schools. The plant, located in Moss Landing, an unincorporated community in Monterey County, is the largest facility in the world that uses lithium-ion batteries to store energy. Residents have reported feeling ill, and many of them worry that the fire polluted the air, soil and water with toxins. “Now you don’t see anybody walking outside because it’s terrifying, everything that’s going on,” said Esmeralda Ortiz, who had to evacuate from her home in Moss Landing after the plant began burning on Jan. 16. She noticed an odd metallic odor as she and her two young children fled. She said she later took her children to the doctor after they complained of headaches and sore throats, symptoms she also had. Eventually, her children felt better, but Ms. Ortiz said she worries about the potential long-term health effects and whether the strawberry fields where she and her husband plan to work during the harvest have been contaminated. No homes were damaged in the fire, which unfolded more than 300 miles north of the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires in the Los Angeles area. For weeks, residents, officials, researchers and environmental and public-health experts have been trying to understand the scale of damage, but so far there have been few answers. What was unleashed by the plumes of smoke from thousands of burning lithium-ion batteries? And where did it go? “A lot of people are concerned about the ingestion of heavy metals,” said Brian Roeder, who moved his family into a rental home for the next month after they felt ill at their home in Prunedale, about eight miles southeast of the fire. TO READ MORE CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE NY TIMES ARTICLE: 
MOSS LANDING, Calif. — Hundreds of people were ordered to evacuate and part of Highway 1 in Northern California was closed early Friday after a major fire erupted at one of the world's largest battery storage plants.
The fire started Thursday afternoon and sent up towering flames and black smoke, and about 1,500 people were instructed to leave Moss Landing and the Elkhorn Slough area, The Mercury News reported. Click here to read the article: Fire at one of the world's largest battery plants forces evacuations in California : NPR What to Know
The blaze sparked just after noon and is burning in the 500 block of Enterprise Street, just a few blocks from where Interstate 15 intersects with state Route 78 and quickly prompted evacuations of more than 500 businesses and 1,500 SDG&E customer homes, according to the electricity agency. By Friday morning, firefighters said they noticed all activity died around 1 a.m. and has remained that way since. County hazmat and SDG&E experts are also at the scene with environmental monitors that have not picked up on any toxic gases. "It’s possible to have a flare-up again, even though we’re not seeing any outward fire activity right now and that’s all good news, but we would hate to tell people it’s safe to come back in these areas and the temperature picks up and one of those things that are been smoldering around for a while lights off, and now we’re right back to where we were yesterday," said Escondido Fire Battalion Chief Tyler Batson. This fire comes a little more than a week after the Escondido City Council took up the issue of battery energy storage within or adjacent to the North County city. Read more about the city council discussion below...... To READ MORE VISIT THIS NEWS ARTICLE: Lithium-ion battery fire in Escondido prompts large response – NBC 7 San Diego 7/17/2024 Fire at Santa Ana energy storage facility prompts temporary evacuations in industrial areaRead NowA fire at a battery energy storage system facility prompted the temporary evacuation of an industrial area in Santa Ana on Wednesday, July 17, authorities said.
Around 7:45 p.m., a fire broke out at the facility in the 1300 block of East Warner Avenue, according to Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Sean Doran. At least one battery unit was ablaze when authorities arrived, though it was not clear if the fire had spread. The area from East Warner Avenue to East St. Gertrude Place, and from Grand Avenue to South Standard Avenue, was evacuated around 8 p.m., authorities said. https://twitter.com/i/status/1813769680051450142 TO READ MORE VISIT THIS ARTICLE: Fire at Santa Ana energy storage facility prompts temporary evacuations in industrial area – Orange County Register SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A stubborn fire at a battery storage site in Otay Mesa is burning for a sixth day. Fire officials are preparing for it to potentially take weeks to put out.
“We’re not sure. We’re preparing for the worst and making plans to be here for a long time, two to four weeks and will reevaluate then,” said Captain Brent Pascua with Cal Fire San Diego. The fire began last Wednesday at the Gateway Energy Storage facility and flare-ups over the weekend put evacuations warnings for the surrounding area back in place. “You have to put water on it to keep the fire confined, but that water damages the batteries also allowing them to arc starting another fire. We’re just trying to keep the public safe and keep the fire contained to the building,” he said. The chain reaction can happen when a lithium-ion battery creates heat faster than it can dissipate. That rapid increase of temperature can then turn to fire. Cal Fire reports there is now major damage to the building, including the roof. “Here in the middle of nowhere and it’s still dangerous. The facility being proposed in La Mesa is in a highly concentrated urban area,” said La Mesa Vice Mayor Laura Lothian. To READ MORE CLICK HERE: Otay Mesa battery facility fire could take weeks to put out entirely SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A fire at a battery storage facility in Otay Mesa reignited overnight, prompting a rapid response from firefighters that continued into Friday.
As of 7:40 p.m., the fire is still contained to the building of origin and there has been no structural damage, Cal Fire San Diego said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Firefighters have deployed additional air quality monitoring equipment around the structure giving us the ability to lift evacuations,” the fire agency said. To read more click here: Gateway Energy Storage facility: Otay Mesa battery fire prompts evacuation warning  This system was on a 3 acre parcel the system was only 24MW the first installment of their first phase that was going to be completed in 2024 measuring 80MW. It was BRAND NEW and it hasn’t been there a month yet. Residents were evacuated and roads were closed for up to 7.7 miles around the site while the batteries were left to burn out on their own. Today is day 4 of the batteries still smoldering. |
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