Battery fire shuts down California highway

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From pv magazine USA

A truckload of batteries caught fire after an accident on a California highway on Friday, July 26, just before 6 a.m. PST, leading to significant delays as the lithium product burned through the weekend.

According to the California Highway Patrol:

The collision occurred when the driver of a 2020 Freightliner, trailering a flatbed trailer loaded with a sealed container of six industrial grade lithium-ion batteries, lost control and overturned onto the right shoulder of northbound I-15. Subsequently, the battery container became detached from the flatbed trailer and also rolled onto the right shoulder.

The truck was carrying just over 75,000 pounds of lithium batteries, six in total, which were headed to a project in Wisconsin. The battery manufacturer and solar power facility owner have not yet been publicly disclosed.

Source: California Transportation District

Due to the location of the accident, heading east out of Los Angeles, it is unlikely the batteries were manufactured by Tesla. The Tesla Lathrop, California megafactory is located due north of this facility and would likely have used a different set of highways to reach Wisconsin.

The San Bernardino County Fire Department stated, “Multiple attempts were made to move the container from the freeway shoulder to open land using heavy equipment from the County Fire’s Special Operations Division, including an excavator and a dozer. Ground improvements and grading were completed in preparation for relocating the container to a safe area for long-term mitigation and cleanup. However, the container’s weight, exceeding 75,000 pounds, has made these efforts unsuccessful so far.”

 

The fire burned for at least twenty-four hours, posing significant hazards. It was announced that at 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 28th, crews had done enough work to reopen two lanes of the interstate. About an hour later, all northbound lanes were reopened. As of Tuesday afternoon, state officials reported that the fire was still burning to some degree.

Also on Tuesday, the California Highway Patrol released the name of the driver, but their injuries, if any, have not been announced.

Caltrans, the California transportation manager, said that they “coordinated delivery of essential supplies and medical aid, including 100 gallons of diesel and 60 gallons of gasoline to stranded motorists on I-15 and to those being diverted to I-40.” Additionally, multiple pallets of water were delivered to the site as temperatures in the desert began to increase. The Highway Patrol was also conducting welfare checks on vehicles stopped in the miles-long traffic jam.

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