Evacuations Amid Battery Plant Fire    01/17 06:18

   

   MOSS LANDING, Calif. (AP) -- Hundreds of people were ordered to evacuate and 
part of Highway 1 in Northern California was closed early Friday after a major 
fire erupted at one of the world's largest battery storage plants.

   The fire started Thursday afternoon and sent up towering flames and black 
smoke, and about 1,500 people were instructed to leave Moss Landing and the 
Elkhorn Slough area, The Mercury News reported.

   The blaze was still burning early Friday with some containment and it had 
not gone beyond the facility, according to Monterey County spokesperson 
Nicholas Pasculli. As of late Thursday, a few dozen people were at a temporary 
evacuation center and the rest had gone to friends or family or made other 
arrangements, Pasculli said.

   The Moss Landing Power Plant, located about 77 miles (about 124 kilometers) 
south of San Francisco, is owned by Texas-based company Vistra Energy and 
contains tens of thousands of lithium batteries. The batteries are important 
for storing electricity from such renewable energy sources as solar energy, but 
if they go up in flames the blazes can be extremely difficult to put out.

   "There's no way to sugar coat it. This is a disaster, is what it is," 
Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church told KSBW-TV. But he said he did not 
expect the fire to spread beyond the concrete building it was enclosed in.

   The county Board of Supervisors planned an emergency meeting Friday morning 
to receive a briefing on the fire.

   There were fires at the Vistra plant in 2021 and 2022 that were caused by a 
fire sprinkler system malfunction that resulted in some units overheating, 
according to The Mercury News.

   It was unclear what caused this latest fire. Vistra said in a statement that 
after it was detected, everyone at the site was evacuated safely. After the 
fire is out, an investigation will begin.

   "Our top priority is the safety of the community and our personnel, and 
Vistra deeply appreciates the continued assistance of our local emergency 
responders," Jenny Lyon, a spokesperson for Vistra, said in a statement.

   North Monterey County Unified School District announced that all schools and 
offices would be closed Friday due to the fire.