Greater than 100 firefighters and a hazardous supplies workforce had been working Wednesday night time to fight a hearth involving lithium ion batteries and prototype vehicles at Basic Motors’ design studio in Pasadena, authorities mentioned.
At one level, a firefighter was trapped within the construction amid the ferocious blaze and despatched out a mayday name.
The Pasadena Hearth Division responded to the fireplace within the 600 block of Sierra Madre Villa Avenue at 5:50 p.m., in line with division spokesperson Lisa Derderian. The incident was declared a four-alarm fireplace — signifying a catastrophic blaze that requires the mobilization of serious fireplace division assets — because of the scale of the construction and the hazardous supplies concerned.
A firefighter is amongst dozens battling a hearth Wednesday on the Basic Motors design studio in Pasadena.
(Hon Wing Chiu / For The Occasions)
“This is likely one of the largest construction fires we’ve had in Pasadena in lots of, a few years,” Derderian mentioned.
Preliminary stories indicated that lithium ion batteries and idea vehicles burned contained in the constructing; nevertheless, the incident remained lively Wednesday night, and the reason for the fireplace is underneath investigation, she mentioned. Among the burned vehicles gave the impression to be gasoline-powered automobiles.
It took firefighters greater than an hour to trace down the supply of the blaze as thick smoke engulfed the 149,000-square-foot campus. Basic Motors invested greater than $71 million in 2021 to construct the three-building facility as a brand new base for its Superior Design Heart.
The blaze is difficult to fight as crews can not use water to extinguish lithium ion battery fires. Doing so could cause a destabilizing chemical response, main extra batteries to catch fireplace or explode.
“Firefighters on scene have educated in eventualities like this, however it does put a unique twist on extinguishing fires,” Derderian mentioned.
Massive lithium ion battery fires can take a number of hours and even days to render secure.
The fireplace burned lithium ion batteries and idea vehicles on the Basic Motors facility, officers mentioned.
(Hon Wing Chiu / For The Occasions)
When one battery cell overheats, it might set off a series response the place close by cells additionally overheat. This response releases warmth and poisonous gases and may proceed deep contained in the battery pack lengthy after seen flames are put out.
There was a mayday name when a firefighter grew to become trapped contained in the fire-engulfed constructing Wednesday night. However fireplace crews had been in a position to find him and pull him out of the construction with out accidents.
“He didn’t want to be transported [to a hospital], however it was a really scary jiffy there till they decided that he was OK,” Derderian mentioned.
Hearth crews are looking out all the campus to make sure there is no such thing as a one else trapped inside, she mentioned. Crews will stay on scene in a single day as they proceed to take care of the hazardous supplies concerned within the blaze.
