BREAKING: Fire at Northern CA Battery Storage Plant, Citizens Evacuating

Now there’s another fire breaking out.

This time it’s Northern California at the Moss Landing Power Plant.

It forced 1,500 residents to evacuate and shut down part of Highway 1 in Northern California.

Flames and thick black smoke billowed from the lithium battery facility, owned by Vistra Energy.

Emergency crews struggled with the notoriously stubborn fires such batteries can produce.

We’ve all seen videos of Tesla’s burning up while firefighters look on, unable to put it out.

Imagine a whole building that has the same fire.

The Moss Landing Power Plant, located about 77 miles south of San Francisco, is owned by Texas-company Vistra Energy and contains tens of thousands of lithium batteries. lithium battery plant caught fire releasing hazardous toxins into the air…… pic.twitter.com/7uZE4YRxQs

— Twacy (@TwacyTwacy) January 17, 2025

Gavin Newsom’s California demonstrating that even fires can go green…

The world‘s largest lithium battery facility has caught fire at Vista Power Plant in Moss Landing, CA pic.twitter.com/s9D2pFaCvT

— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) January 17, 2025

ABC News reports:

MOSS LANDING, Calif. — Hundreds of people were ordered to evacuate and part of Highway 1 in Northern California was closed when a major fire erupted Thursday afternoon at one of the world’s largest battery storage plants.

As the fire sent up towering flames and black smoke and showed no sign of easing by Thursday night, about 1,500 people were instructed to leave Moss Landing and the Elkhorn Slough area, The Mercury News reported.

The Moss Landing Power Plant, located about 77 miles (about 124 kilometers) south of San Francisco, is owned by Texas-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.

Sad to see.

Of all the recent fires, this one may be a legitimate accident. Those lithium batteries are quite volatile.

🚨#BREAKING: Evacuation orders have been issued after a lithium battery plant caught fire releasing hazardous toxins into the air⁰⁰📌#MossLanding | #Californa ⁰⁰Currently, numerous emergency crews are on the scene of a massive fire broke out at the Moss Landing Power Plant's… pic.twitter.com/MMcpY0yka1

— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) January 17, 2025