People living close to an ongoing fire that broke out Thursday at one of the biggest battery storage facilities in the world, located in the northern part of California, were allowed to return home on Friday night.
On Thursday night, the Moss Landing Power Plant in Moss Landing, Monterey County, approximately 25 miles south of Santa Cruz, erupted in smoke and flames, according to social media footage.
Up to 1,500 people were no longer under evacuation orders, according to the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office on Friday night. However, residents were advised to remain indoors in case the fire released harmful gasses into the air.
According to a statement from the County of Monterey Department of Emergency Management, the Environmental Protection Agency said tests showed the air was not now a concern.
California Assembly Member Dawn Addis and Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church stated during a press conference in the afternoon that they would like to keep the storage facility closed until investigators can identify the cause of the incident.
According to Addis, it has been decided that the safest course of action is to let the fire burn out. The plant’s representative agreed.
Tens of thousands of lithium batteries, which are crucial for storing electricity from renewable energy sources like solar energy, are housed in the factory, which is owned by the Texas-based company Vistra Corp. If they catch fire, they can be very challenging to extinguish.
The plant, which was first constructed in 1950 as a fossil fuel-based power facility for Pacific Gas & Electric, has a newer storage side that can handle 400 megawatts or 1,600 megawatt-hours of electricity from renewable sources that can be released to the California power grid when needed, according to a 2021 statement from Vistra.
For a future that may rely on renewable energy sources like solar power—which is captured during the hottest parts of the day but is required day and night, rain or shine—battery storage is essential.
Chief Joel Mendoza told reporters during a news briefing Friday morning that the North County Fire Protection District Fire was contacted about the factory fire at approximately 3 p.m. on Thursday.
Mendoza stated, “When our first unit on the scene arrived, we discovered that there was smoke coming from the building and that at least one battery was on fire.”
“Conditions changed drastically” about an hour into the fire, and the facility’s fire suppression equipment, which had performed effectively in previous events, was not helping.
According to Mendoza, “in this specific instance, that system was insufficient, it was overridden, and as a result, fire took control of the system and ultimately the entire building.”
At that point, local roads were closed and a mandatory evacuation was announced for the area. The director of communications for Monterey County, Nick Pasculli, also appeared at the briefing on Friday, stating that 1,200 to 1,500 residents were safely evacuated from approximately 7,600 acres of land.
According to Pasculli, there have been no reports of fatalities or injuries from the incident.
Generous Donation: Pechanga Tribe Contributes $500K to Help Los Angeles Fire Survivors
“Most of that fire has gone out,” according to Mendoza, and there isn’t much active flame left. It appeared that the fire peaked between 8 and 10 p.m. “Thursday,” he added.
Mendoza said that this is based on a preliminary report and that equipment used to check air quality on the scene did not find hydrogen fluoride, the main hazardous chemical generated when lithium batteries burn.
The Santa Cruz County Office of Response, Recovery, and Resilience stated in a statement released Friday morning that there is no immediate serious threat from the fire and that residents can go back to their regular activities.
Glenn Church, the supervisor of Monterey County District 2, put the fire “as a worst case scenario of a disaster” that no one had anticipated during the briefing.
Top Music Acts Announced for FireAid, the Benefit Concert for L.A. Wildfire Victims
Church stated that this is the fourth fire to occur at this location since 2019, and that environmental and safety concerns should not take precedence over the switch to renewable energy.
Although the origin of the fire is now unknown, Church pledged responsibility. During Friday’s news briefing, Vistra Director of Community Affairs Brad Watson expressed the company’s apologies.
