Local first responders, like those around the nation, have been dealing with a spate of lithium-ion battery-related fires recently.
“We see fires that are involving lithium-ion batteries approximately three times a week in the city of San Diego alone,” said San Diego Fire-Rescue Battalion Chief Rob Rezende said. "Most of them are from e-bikes, e-scooters, hoverboards, vape pens."
Lithium Battery Fires in San Diego County
There have been multiple fires at battery energy storage facilities in San Diego County recently, as well, including one in Otay Mesa.
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“That fire, we were there for 14 days," Rezende said. "That was a robust response with significant impacts to the fire department where Cal Fire had to dedicate a significant number of resources for 14 days to manage that incident."
Rezende, who is the region’s first Alternative-Energy Emergency Response Coordinator, is leading the way in the region's efforts to understand and train first responders in the complex task of fighting lithium-battery-related fires.
“This is a grant-funded position through the Department of Homeland Security about primarily addressing anything related to alternative energy," Rezende said. "As we move electrification and alternative sources that are not hydrocarbon-based power sources, there are additional challenges.”
The complex fires often associated with an energy source are of concern, according to Rezende.
“It’s kind of a combination of every kind of fire we can encounter all at once — becomes very difficult to manage,” Rezende said, "in addition to the fact that it's going through a chemical process inside the battery, which really can't be stopped. The easiest way to think about that is kind of like a positive feedback loop, meaning I have the chemistry starts to speed up, which heats up the chemistry, which then causes it to speed up again, and then it heats it up more. And it just keeps doing that and positive feedback – kind of like feedback on a microphone and a speaker."
Local experts believe that their understanding of how to fight lithium-ion battery-related fires and improving technology with those batteries will lead to better results in the future.
“I think 20 years in the future, we are going to look back and say, 'We’ve made some improvements and now we know how to handle these things,' ” Rezende said.
