ESCONDIDO — Local fire officials are investigating the cause of a fire that broke out at a San Diego Gas & Electric lithium-ion battery storage facility last week in Escondido.
According to the Escondido Fire Department, the fire broke out shortly after noon on Sept. 5 at the SDG&E site, located between Enterprise Street and Alpine Way. Several schools were closed, and nearby businesses were evacuated in a multi-block area spanning from east of Alpine Street to south of Mission Road, west of Enterprise Street and north of Auto Park Way.
According to the EFD, the blaze was contained to just one of 24 battery storage cells on-site and was allowed to burn itself out over 12 hours in accordance with industry standards.
The fire department reported that all visible signs of fire ceased around 1 a.m. Friday morning. No one was injured in the fire.
Evacuation orders were lifted at noon on Sept. 7 — nearly 48 hours after the fire started — once officials had determined the fire extinguished and on-site conditions safe.
Several agencies, including SDG&E, Escondido fire and police and the county’s Hazardous Materials Division and Health Department, have been monitoring the air quality due to the rare occasions that lithium-ion battery fires emit flammable, noxious gases through thermal runaway events.
However, Escondido Fire Division Chief Tyler Batson noted on Friday that while some people may have smelled remnants of the fire, atmospheric readings indicated that the air quality was within safe levels.
“We haven’t gotten any readings of toxic or combustible gasses,” Batson said.
The Escondido Union School District also reopened all campuses that were closed due to evacuation orders on Monday, which included Rock Spring Elementary, Del Dios School of the Arts, and the Carilyn Gilbert Education Center.
#SanDiego Fire at battery storage facility prompts evacuations in #Escondido
📹 @NewsFlashSD pic.twitter.com/CuyL7OcSP3— Sideo TV (@SideoTV) September 6, 2024
Over the weekend, residents in coastal cities started reporting the smell of burning chemicals, with many speculating on social media that it was due to the lithium battery fire. The San Diego County Air Pollution Control District issued a statement saying that the smell was not related to the battery fire.
For now, it remains unclear how a fire started in one of 24 battery storage containers on the SDG&E site.
“Over the coming weeks, the Escondido Fire Department and SDG&E will conduct a thorough investigation to determine the cause of the fire,” reads a joint statement from the two agencies.
The battery fire occurred just over a week after the Escondido City Council approved a resolution opposing large battery storage facilities within and near city limits.
Mayor Dane White, who proposed the resolution in response to the proposed Seguro battery storage facility in Eden Valley, just outside city limits, plans to renew his call for an official moratorium on battery storage facilities after the fire.
“It is beyond coincidence a fire breaks out (sic) at a battery energy storage facility only one week after I introduced a resolution to oppose the massive Seguro (battery energy storage) facility proposed just outside of Escondido city limits,” White wrote on Facebook on Sept. 7. “The resolution would have opposed that particular project and came with a request that the Escondido City Council explore a moratorium on all (battery energy storage) projects until proper zoning and safety regulations have been considered and adopted.”
Proposed by energy company AES Corporation, the Seguro battery storage project would store 320 megawatts, or 1,280 megawatt hours, enough to power 240,000 homes for four hours. It would connect to the local power grid through a new substation on-site, linked to the SDG&E Escondido Substation via a transmission line.
Over the past year, nearby residents have largely opposed the Seguro project. Palomar Health also denied AES an easement for the energy company to connect the facility to the SDG&E substation through hospital grounds.
The closest home is 130 feet from Seguro, and Palomar Medical Center is approximately 1,600 feet downwind.
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors is also expected to decide on a battery energy storage moratorium on Sept. 11 until more stringent regulations are in place.
Local groups opposing the Seguro battery storage, which would not be impacted by the moratorium, are looking forward to the discussion.
“Area residents are renewing their call for the county to issue a moratorium on building new lithium battery storage facilities in neighborhoods,” reads a statement released on Friday from a group of citizens, including JP Theberge of the Elfin Forest Harmony Grove Town Council and Joe Rowley, a retired engineer and battery storage facility developer.
“The Escondido battery fire is unfolding in an industrial area away from homes and residences. However, it reinforces the concerns of residents that a project that is 10 times larger (the Seguro project) is being proposed, which would be surrounded by hundreds of homes and upwind from a hospital in northern San Diego County, near Escondido,” they write. “Despite the current
fire being in an industrial area, hundreds of businesses were evacuated and many more were told to shelter-in-place. Schools located downwind were closed today as well.”
City News Services contributed to this report.
