Lithium Battery Fire Smoulders in San Diego Area Warehouse, Won’t be Extinguished for “Weeks”

Lithium Battery Fire Smoulders in San Diego Area Warehouse, Won’t be Extinguished for “Weeks”

We have covered a wide range of stories related to lithium battery fires over the years: In ships, those used in electric bikes, and water-drenched battery fires that occur after hurricanes and floods.

There are many challenges associated with fighting lithium/lithium-ion battery fires. The lithium is water reactive, yet water is often the only fire-fighting option in large enough quantities to fight the blaze. The materials burns at very high temperatures and is prone to re-igniting, which is why it took the fire fighters in Texas 30,000 gallons of water and four hours to extinguish a blaze.

These are facts that have been repressed by climate change activists and their media minions. However, sometimes the fires are just too big to ignore . . . like the one that just occurred in a San Diego area warehouse that smouldered for nearly a week.

The blaze has been a frustrating one for firefighters, given that lithium-ion batteries can sometimes overheat and trigger what’s called “thermal runaway” — a chain reaction in which the condition spreads from one battery to another, especially when they are stacked inside a battery storage facility.

The fire was first reported last Wednesday afternoon. By Thursday, fire officials thought the blaze had been largely extinguished but some of the batteries reignited on Friday evening and continued to flare through the weekend.

About 40 firefighters have kept a close eye on the batteries, monitoring them for excessive heat and drenching the site when puffs of smoke appear.

“We’re monitoring and spraying water when necessary,” said Cornette, who said a standpipe from the building’s sprinkler system poured 350 gallons of water per minute on the site at the height of the fire.

The fire is still not out, and firefighters think it may be weeks before it is. Residents in another San Diego community are beginning to get nervous about a proposed new battery storage warehouse going up in its neighborhood.

“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.

. . . . 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.

The fire has captured the attention of North County residents opposing the Seguro battery storage site and now those living in La Mesa where another battery facility is in the works.

“Hasty to say the least to be building these things without thinking it all the way through,” Lothian said.

And while the the Murray Project website indicates the La Mesa project would use lithium iron phosphate batteries (a safer option that is reportedly emissions-free and non-toxic), I am getting the sense that citizens are questioning the guidance and information being provided by “subject matter experts.”

Another nearby community, Poway, is worrying about the lithium battery facility that solar energy company Arevon wants to construct in the area.

“There are 277 families that live up there (in nearby Stonebridge Estates). So it seems negligent to have a facility that’s that close to a huge urban area,” Garrison said of the NightHawk project.

Garrison’s property and the proposed facility site are both labeled as “very high fire danger zones” by CAL Fire.

However, demand for lithium-ion batteries continues to grow. They are in things like electric toothbrushes, tablets, cell phones, and electric cars.

“I don’t object at all to the idea of lithium batteries, especially with the cost of energy going up all the time,” Garrison said. “However, having (the storage facility) so close to where there are a lot of people, it just makes zero sense.”

California shows that Green Energy isn’t about protecting the environment; it’s about using regulations to nuke the competition and rake in as many dollars as possible while enjoying climate cult virtue signalling.

Beege Welborne of Hot Air offers her perspective on the California “net zero” goals that are being thrust upon the rest of the nation.

Where you run into problems going forward is that oleaginous California Governor Gavin Newsom’s insane renewable energy policies have not only precipitously forced his state into near third-world energy status but are actively endangering his citizens. To meet CA’s seemingly immutable NetZero goals and effect this marvelous transition, myriad copies of this very storage facility are being planned, with some permitted already, and a fair amount of them being dumped in the middle of residential areas.

Because “green transition.”

You pair those lithium battery fires with the built-up vegetation that can’t be cleared because of environmental regulations, add the Santa Ana winds that blow through these parts in the fall, and you have yourselves the makings of a Maui-scale fire disaster.

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