Fire in battery storage facility in California triggers evacuation order

City officials said notices have been sent out to people within a 1,500-by-2,000-foot radius of the Enterprise Street fire, as shown on the map above. A shelter-in-place order has been issued for a slightly larger area around the fire scene.

The Escondido Fire Department was on site along with the San Diego County hazardous materials teams. The presence of hazardous materials teams is mandatory in the event of lithium-ion battery fires.

Initial local reports indicated that the fire appeared to be confined to one container. San Diego Union-Tribune According to the newspaper's website, firefighters responded to an alarm and reports of smoke shortly before 12:10 p.m. local time.

Escondido Fire Department Chief Tyler Batson told reporters that water was sprayed on surrounding units, but the burning container simply burned. According to the San Diego Union-TribuneBatson pointed out that introducing water into burning batteries could exacerbate the problem and ultimately not extinguish the fire, which is consistent with current best practices for lithium battery fires.

The fire department estimated that it could take up to 48 hours for the container to burn out completely.

Energy-Storage.news has contacted the utility SDG&E for further information and comment. This site has some knowledge of battery storage facilities in the area, but it would be wrong to speculate in advance about the details of the project in question until confirmation is received from SDG&E or other sources.

The incident, however, came not long after a May fire at LS Power's Gateway energy storage facility in nearby Otay Mesa, which burned for nearly two weeks. In July, following the Otay Mesa fire and another at a major project in the county, San Diego County voted to implement new standards for siting BESS in the region, but dropped the imposition of a construction moratorium that had also been considered.