Firefighters Wednesday were monitoring a battery storage unit near a solar farm at a Metropolitan Water District facility in La Verne adjacent to the site of a fire that caused one person to be hospitalized.
The storage unit being monitored was smoking and making popping sounds due to heat exposure Tuesday, La Verne Fire Department Battalion Chief Mark Savage told City News Service.
“There’s no real fire activity going on, but there’s potential until the energy has dissipated and been released,” Savage said Tuesday. “They have to physically go in there and remove the energy from those batteries. There’s still potential but it’s looking good now.”
Grace Elementary School will be closed Wednesday. The school was placed under a shelter-in-place order Tuesday as was Bonita High School as crews worked to contain the blaze.
The fire prompted the closure of the University of La Verne. The university announced it will reopen Wednesday.
An evacuation order for the immediate vicinity of the MWD facility remained in effect Wednesday.
The fire broke out around 11:40 a.m. Tuesday at the facility at 3201 Wheeler Ave., Savage said.
As Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel responded to the scene, there was a small explosion in the battery unit, Savage said.
Due to the hazardous nature of lithium batteries, fire crews sprayed the area with water to prevent the flames from spreading.
Evacuation orders were issued in the areas around the facility. La Verne police said shopping centers along Wheeler Avenue north of Foothill Boulevard were evacuated as a precaution.
At about 12:50 p.m., the Los Angeles County Fire Department announced the fire was a hazardous materials incident and an evacuation order was issued “for everyone near Wheeler and Bonita Avenue.”
“Gather family and LEAVE NOW,” the fire department advised on social media. “Your safety is in danger if you stay. Use caution while evacuating. Follow instructions from emergency personnel.”
By about 2:30 p.m., the fire activity had diminished significantly, but “there’s still a hazard on scene,” Savage said. He said one civilian was injured and taken to a hospital, but no other details were immediately available on the cause or severity of that injury.
A short time later, some evacuation orders were downgraded to warnings, while others were reduced to advisories for residents to remain alert. An evacuation order remained in place in the immediate vicinity of the facility.
The battery storage unit that caught fire is 8 feet wide, 8 feet high and 20 feet long, Savage said.
Savage added that fire crews are administering cooling measures to the adjacent container, which poses a fire hazard from the stored energy in the batteries.
The evacuation order is bounded by Moreno Avenue to the west, Foothill Boulevard to the north, B Street to the east and Paseo Drive, Winterhaven Drive and Kendrick Drive to the south, according to a statement posted on La Verne’s website.
Residents within the area are ordered to remain evacuated until further notice and residents with nowhere to go are encouraged to call the La Verne Police Department Watch Commander at 909-596-1913.
An emergency shelter has been set up at the La Verne Community Center.
The MWD issued a statement saying the fire occurred “at a battery energy storage system near a solar panel field on the northeast side at the La Verne facility, which also houses the Weymouth Water Treatment Plant. The safety of Metropolitan’s water supply is not affected.”
Residents can receive updates from the social media pages of the La Verne fire and police departments or at laverneca.gov/736/METROPOLITAN-WATER-DISTRICT—SEPTEMBER-.
The MWD is a regional water wholesaler that distributes water to agencies throughout Southern California, serving millions of customers.