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The Lithium-Ion Battery 'Energy Storage' Facility Blaze You Hadn't Heard About...Is Still Burning
Hotair ^ | 05/24/2024 | Beege Welborn

Posted on 05/24/2024 9:08:07 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

It's not a laptop in first class or a cheap Chinese scooter smoking ominously in the plane's cargo hold. Nor is it a massive commercial ship packed to the gills with cars being transported across an ocean that has had one of the EVs parked onboard light off, and now the whole vessel is hopelessly ablaze. It's not another fiery EV in a driveway or garage or the solar panels on a rooftop, even though I have covered all of those.

Comments regular Global Traveler turned me on to an ongoing drama in, of all places, San Diego County that should be ringing alarm bells all over the country. His heads-up was the first I'd heard of it, and it's immediately obvious why.

Last Wednesday, the 15th of May, the Gateway Energy Storage Facility in Otay Mesa erupted into flames. It took firefighters an exhausting 24 hours to "extinguish" the blaze. 

...The fire broke out inside the Gateway Energy Storage facility on Paseo de la Fuente Wednesday and took nearly 24 hours for crews to extinguish.

“When we arrived on scene there was light smoke showing,” Captain Mike Cornette with Cal Fire told FOX 5/KUSI on Thursday.

Businesses in the surrounding area were put on standby for evacuation while firefighters maintained a 600-foot safety barrier due to dangerous levels of hydrogen. A shelter in place order was also issued to Donovan State Prison, located about half a mile from the storage facility.

“We went into defensive action. We knew this was a battery storage facility. There’s some toxic gases and high heat that are attributed to that, so we called in extra support with the hazmat unit and the bomb squad to give us the extra tools,” Cornette explained.

Welp, they thought they'd extinguished it. By a week ago Friday, it had reignited and the CalFire representative on the scene was explaining "thermal runaway" to the local reporter. Fire crews were trying to contain the fire to the area where it had started while minimizing the opportunity for any deadly fumes it would produce to escape which would prompt evacuations of the - thankfully - largely uninhabited industrial area.

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.

By Saturday the 18th, every "put the fire out" bet were off. All firefighters could do was dump more water on the building and talk about "containment" as a goal, not extinguishing it. They had no idea how to put it out.

The long-smoldering battery plant fire in Otay Mesa neared the four-day mark Sunday with no indication that full containment was imminent.

Cal Fire Capt. Brent Pascua said mid-morning that the situation continued roughly as it was Saturday night with 40 firefighters and five engines assigned .

“We still have light wispy smoke coming from the fire,” Pascua said. “Our goal is to continue to keep it contained to the building it started in.”

There was no firm estimate of how much longer the fire might continue.

“Speaking with the experts, in the past they’re had a few incidents like this, and it’s anywhere from seven days to a couple of weeks,” Pascua said.

A stubborn fire at an energy storage facility in Otay Mesa reignited late Friday night and continued well into Saturday, as about 40 firefighters poured water into the location in the hopes of finally extinguishing the blaze.

At 8:23 p.m. Friday, Pascua said, a “significant fire” reignited inside one of the buildings at the Gateway Energy Storage Facility on Camino De La Fuente — the result of a chain reaction called “thermal runaway” that can occur when lithium-ion batteries overheat.

As of this past Tuesday, CalFire was still pouring water on and into the building while coming to the realization that "water" around lithium-ion batteries was a double-edged sword. Like Ramius tells Ryan in Red October, "Most things in here don't react too well to bullets." In the batteries' case, they don't react well to water.

...Pascua said things began to reignite Friday night.

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.

But water's all they've got, and, as of yesterday, they were well into multiple millions of gallons flowing without having put the fire to bed.

One fire. In a perpetual drought state.

...The fire has already consumed 5 million gallons of water, and firefighters estimate it will take an additional 7-10 days to control, using a total of 15-20 million gallons. LETHAL amounts of Hydrogen Cyanide were present in the air for 3 hours after the fire began...

All that and, as of this morning, still en fuego. The thermal picture of the facility is pretty impressive too, as heat signatures go.


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."

Residents of Poway and Escondido have been fighting against a planned "Seguro Battery Storage Facility" for a good while now, and the Otay blaze has just added fuel to their arguments.

<span class="fr-mk" style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span>

When you consider all the assets required for this one fire - which thankfully remains contained - in an isolated area, contemplating what might happen if one goes full bore when there are as many as 21 schools nearby, a hospital, and hundreds upon hundreds of homes? How is any suburban area a responsible possible site choice?

...The proposed battery energy storage facility would be built near the Eden Valley neighborhood.

...The facility in Otay Mesa is located at an industrial site, but the proposed North County site will be directly surrounded by homes, including 21 schools within a three-mile radius.

“These are chemicals that are really toxic and you really don’t want to have residents nearby. This is a completely different animal. We’re talking about what would be one of the largest battery facilities in the world. We’re talking about 216 forty foot long containers each one fueled with lithium-ion batteries," he added.

Rowley and other neighbors are now urging the county to deny the proposed site from going up.

Of course, you get the mewling "our batteries are different/better," "it's for the planet," but that's all a crock to residents who are rightly and should be militantly skeptical of claims when it's their health, safety, and community at obvious risk.

The funny thing was, I read a not-too-comforting report this morning where research is pointing to battery storage maintenance and monitoring as the cause of many of these fires, not the batteries themselves.

Like, "Oh, great," right?

...Their findings ultimately showed that many BESS failures can be prevented with better quality assurance and battery monitoring. Contrary to popular belief, the engineers determined only three failures could be traced to defects on the cell or module, underscoring the need for tools that enable improved commissioning and operational analysis of the entire system.

  • 65% of failures could be linked to the operation and integration of batteries – not their manufacturing or design
  • Just 11% of failures were due to battery cells and modules

“The report emphasizes the importance of battery analytics, with most of the failures traced to the integration and operation stages,” Franks said. “We believe this new resource will help guide further development of analytics software that can ensure BESS safety. We’re honored to support EPRI in the publication of this report and thankful for the collaboration of their engineers and those from PNNL.”

That should be even more concerning, for crying out loud.

As folks point out, officials foisting these projects on their citizens and the companies taking the money haven't begun to do the work on consequences. One guy basically said, when you can't even figure out how to put the fire out and you already knew these things burn, there are serious credibility problems.

...In La Mesa, residents and local leaders are wrestling with a renewable energy storage site proposed here on El Paso Street. Vice Mayor Laura Lothian is so opposed to it, she’s taken to social media.

They have already gone through 5 million gallons of water. Can’t put out the chemicals,“ Lothian said in an Instagram post while standing in front of the Camino Fire. “This has no business being in La Mesa. We are building green energy initiatives that we have no idea what the consequences are."

San Diego-based Enersmart wants to build the La Mesa facility. That project is expected to begin in August.

Part of the company’s project overview on its website reads: “Our storage projects prioritize safety. The La Mesa site will use lithium iron phosphate batteries which are a chemically and thermally stable battery technology.”

With the current state of the Camino Fire, residents can’t help but wonder whether it could happen in their communities.

If they can’t figure out how to put that fire out, these batteries have been a problem for everything,” Show said.

The companies say these projects are generally being created to support the electrical grid during times of high use. They are also part of several community efforts to transition to clean energy use.

Yeah. What could possibly go wrong?

They've already had a taste of it.

The problem I'm seeing with more of the protests is the "well, we need to have this for our energy transition, but NOT HERE" that almost every last person protesting starts their objection with. That needs to change.

You DON'T NEED ANY OF IT for an energy "transition" YOU DIDN'T NEED and never "needed" to begin with.

What Californians do need to do is to wake up and reject the NetZero mandates, period. 

If the first words of your protest are already acceptance?

You already surrendered.

In the meantime, Otay still ain't okay.

It'll be smokin' away for the foreseeable future.



TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: battery; blaze; burning; burningmountain; centraliapafire; climatechange; coalseamfire; electricvehicles; elementatomicnumber3; energy; evs; fire; greenenergy; greenhousegases; lithium; lithiumion; lithiumionbattery; runaway; thermal
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1 posted on 05/24/2024 9:08:07 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Do not bet on “green energy.”

Its a product low interest rates, massive government debt, and government mandates.


2 posted on 05/24/2024 9:10:09 PM PDT by PGR88
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To: SeekAndFind

3 posted on 05/24/2024 9:18:25 PM PDT by bigbob
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To: bigbob

Maybe it will outlast the world’s longest tire fire.
“The Heyope tyre dump near Knighton, Powys, would appear to be the longest burning tyre fire in the world. Started in 1989 it continued to burn until at least 2004.

The tyre dump with an estimated total of 10 million tyres lay in a deep wooded valley in the Welsh borders. According to reports they tyres were packed too densely for firefighters to extinguish and there were no flames, but temperature readings confirm the intense heat generated below the surface.”


4 posted on 05/24/2024 9:21:45 PM PDT by rxh4n1
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To: rxh4n1

Like those coal-seam fires that dot the world.


5 posted on 05/24/2024 9:32:49 PM PDT by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: SeekAndFind

I appreciate the info.

He’s right, it hasn’t been reported much.

But I wish he would learn to write.


6 posted on 05/24/2024 9:42:51 PM PDT by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: BradyLS

“Like those coal-seam fires that dot the world.”

Yep. Centralia PA fire burning since 1962.


7 posted on 05/24/2024 10:05:24 PM PDT by rxh4n1
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To: BradyLS
"Like those coal-seam fires that dot the world."

There's one in New South Wales, Australia, that's been burning (at least) 5500 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_Mountain#Coal_seam_fire

And of course the sun has been burning a bit longer than that.

8 posted on 05/24/2024 10:08:29 PM PDT by Paal Gulli
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To: ifinnegan

“Reporters” these daze are public school C stoonts.


9 posted on 05/24/2024 10:14:56 PM PDT by knarf (BEC)
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To: bigbob

I get it, oil wells burning makes battery fires good


10 posted on 05/24/2024 10:20:46 PM PDT by 1756-L85E
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To: SeekAndFind

One fire dept if read about is prepared for burning Teslas. They have a giant dumpster, into which they will forklift the burning car and then backfill with sand until it’s full. Only sure way of extinguishing a large lithium battery fire.


11 posted on 05/24/2024 10:31:51 PM PDT by Chad C. Mulligan
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To: PGR88

How much in the way of greenhouse gases are being expelled into the atmosphere due to this fire?


12 posted on 05/24/2024 11:21:25 PM PDT by Republican Wildcat
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To: SeekAndFind

“”Gateway Energy Storage Facility””

Once again, STORAGE. To call this place anything but a very large Duracell is ridiculous (and most Duracells do not cause fires).

Over and over the Drive-By Media call these places energy plants, as if the batteries magically charge themselves. Kalifornia likes to brag about all the wind and solar energy. If they need to charge these batteries at night, what are they going to do, order the Sun to rise early?


13 posted on 05/24/2024 11:33:28 PM PDT by Ronaldus Magnus III (Do, or do not, there is no try)
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To: SeekAndFind

better, more recent video. make it go viral. it helps fight against EV mandates:

VIDEO: 2m31s: 21 May: Yahoo/KSWB: Otay Mesa battery facility fire could take weeks to put out entirely
by Kasia Gregorczyk
https://www.yahoo.com/news/otay-mesa-battery-facility-fire-054546130.html


14 posted on 05/25/2024 12:32:10 AM PDT by MAGAthon
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To: SeekAndFind

better, more recent video. make it go viral. it helps fight against EV mandates:

VIDEO: 2m31s: 21 May: Yahoo/KSWB: Otay Mesa battery facility fire could take weeks to put out entirely
by Kasia Gregorczyk
https://www.yahoo.com/news/otay-mesa-battery-facility-fire-054546130.html


15 posted on 05/25/2024 12:32:10 AM PDT by MAGAthon
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To: SeekAndFind
"The Lithium-Ion Battery 'Energy Storage' Facility Blaze You Hadn't Heard About...Is Still Burning"

Makes nuclear power almost seem safe by comparison.
16 posted on 05/25/2024 12:50:06 AM PDT by clearcarbon (Fraudulent elections have consequences.)
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To: SeekAndFind

But they are providing free light and heat!


17 posted on 05/25/2024 12:52:28 AM PDT by Lockbox (politicians, they all seemed like game show hosts to me.... Sting…)
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To: SeekAndFind

Coming to a county near you in Michigan. Rural counties away from water and manned by Volunteer Fire Departments. Thank Strechin’ Gretchen.


18 posted on 05/25/2024 4:35:38 AM PDT by wetgundog
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To: bigbob

Well, that has nothing to do with batteries...


19 posted on 05/25/2024 5:33:16 AM PDT by null and void (“No matter how cynical you become, it’s never enough to keep up”. ~ Lily Tomlin)
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To: SeekAndFind

Is the company being fined for polluting...or are they excused from such because they are Green Woke?


20 posted on 05/25/2024 6:06:01 AM PDT by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp??)
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