A fire at the world's largest lithium-ion battery plant in Northern California is still smoldering after spewing columns of toxic smoke into the atmosphere, prompting the evacuation of up to 1,500 people from the area, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
The fire at the Vistra Energy lithium-ion battery plant in Moss Landing was spewing huge flames and significant amounts of smoke yesterday, but by this morning it had subsided significantly, said Monterey County Fire Chief Joel Mendoza. The manufacturer is based in Texas.
“There is very little, if any, smoke coming out of this building,“ Mendoza said. Firefighters are currently not putting out the fire and are waiting for it to burn out, the chief added. Leaving lithium-ion battery fires to burn out is not unusual because they burn with a lot of flames and are difficult to put out, the AP notes.
There are no reports of injuries from the fire so far.