A stubborn fire at an Otay Mesa battery storage facility has been smoldering for five days and officials have no estimate for when the fire will be extinguished.
Crews have not yet entered the building, which houses lithium-ion batteries, since a fire broke out Wednesday afternoon at the Gateway Energy Storage Center on Camino De La Fuente. Concerns about a “sagging roof” prevented firefighters from exiting the structure Sunday, Cal Fire Capt. Brent Pascua said.
The fire burned a hole in the roof after flames flared up on Saturday.
“Part of the roof caved in on itself, but did not collapse,” Pascua said Sunday afternoon. “And we need to make sure that anyone near, around or inside the building is safe.”
An evacuation order remains in effect for the 250-megawatt storage facility. An evacuation notice has been issued in the immediate vicinity of the site, which includes several businesses. The controls could be expanded if the wind shifts, increasing the potential fire threat, officials said. There was no firm estimate of how long the fire might continue to smolder.
“Talking with the experts, in the past they had a few incidents like this, and it lasted anywhere from seven days to a few weeks,” Pascua said.
For days, crews have been pumping water into the building’s fire suppression system to quell the fire and cool the heated batteries. The first fire was put out Thursday afternoon, but a resurgence of flames later that night brought firefighters back to the scene. Further flare-ups occurred over the weekend.
Firefighters say these unpredictable fires are the result of a chain reaction called “thermal runaway” that can occur when a lithium-ion battery creates heat faster than it can dissipate it, leading to rapid temperature causing inflammation.
Around forty firefighters were still on site Sunday. Light puffs of smoke were seen rising from the building early in the afternoon.
Rev Renewables, a subsidiary of LS Power that owns and operates the Gateway facility, said in an email Saturday that it is communicating with Cal Fire and will continue to provide updates on the situation.
California Daily Newspapers
