On Tuesday, Monterey County supervisors issued a state of emergency in response to a significant fire last week at the Vistra lithium battery plant located in Moss Landing.
The emergency declaration was made during a special meeting, where officials provided updates regarding the fire and ongoing recovery efforts. Despite the fire being mostly out, many local leaders and residents still have numerous questions about the future.
“This is just the start,” stated Josh Contreras, showing images of the incident from his houseboat.
The photos captured a fireball on the horizon, less than a mile away.
“I wandered up to the docks and captured more pictures,” he remarked. “The flames were towering almost as high as the structures nearby.”
The fire at the Vistra Power Plant in Moss Landing, approximately 90 miles south of San Francisco, ignited last Thursday afternoon, intensifying in the evening to the extent that it caused evacuations of around 1,200 residents in the vicinity and closed a section of Highway 1 in both directions.
Worried about potentially hazardous runoff if firefighters used hoses on the burning lithium batteries, officials opted to let the fire extinguish naturally.
Officials reported that as of late Friday morning, the fire was mainly out; however, it flared up again for several hours that afternoon before calming down. By early Friday evening, evacuation orders were lifted, although the Highway 1 stretch next to the plant remained closed until Sunday.
As the fire has now been extinguished, many locals are left contemplating the facility’s future.
Contreras commented, “If they produce battery packs, they should operate them in more remote locations.”
“This technology is ahead of the regulations imposed by the government,” Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church stated during the emergency meeting. “And also ahead of the industry’s capability to manage it.”
Supervisors posed similar inquiries about the fire. A representative from Vistra indicated that they were just beginning to assess the damage at the burnt-out lithium battery facility. The incident was significant enough for Supervisor Church, who previously compared it to a “Three Mile Island” incident for the budding industry, to make this observation:
“Battery storage is crucial for our future, and that is the direction we are taking,” Church emphasized. “However, as I’ve emphasized before, we cannot prioritize that over safety. That must be our main concern at this point.”
Church has urged for the Vistra facility to remain closed until an independent investigation can ascertain what caused the incident.
“Unfortunately, we’re still in the early stages of understanding battery safety,” stated Dustin Mulvaney, a professor of environmental sciences at San Jose State University. “We are still discovering how these batteries ignite. We’re also learning how to effectively suppress those fires.”
Mulvaney indicated that the Moss Landing incident could serve as a wake-up call for the entire sector, extending even to the companies that insure the batteries. Many stakeholders will want clarity on the incident’s particulars, particularly in a plant that comprises various lithium battery technologies.
“The site exemplifies numerous design methodologies,” Mulvaney clarified. “It was constructed in separate phases, exploiting different opportunities for equipment placement. This incident will push the industry to reconsider its construction practices. They must operate with greater responsibility to the community.”
Community residents are now left to ponder the implications of having this plant in close proximity.
“Yes, it should be relocated to a desert area,” suggested nearby resident Julie Nieman. “Perhaps somewhere in Nevada, in an area where residents are not present. Why would it be situated where people live, in such a beautiful coastal region?”
Other than a single roadway closure adjacent to the plant, life in Moss Landing has largely returned to normal. Parks and beaches have reopened, though some residents have expressed further concerns regarding the fire’s environmental impact, especially concerning the delicate Elkhorn Slough Reserve, which is home to several endangered sea otter species.
The county plans to initiate water quality testing this week but states it is not as significant a concern as air quality was during the fire.
