Firefighters respond to fire at Battery Warehouse store in Carroll County

Two firefighters were injured while responding to a fire at the Battery Warehouse store in Westminster, Maryland, Monday evening, according to the Carroll County Fire Department. 

Firefighters and hazmat teams responded around 7:25 p.m. to the 800 block of Baltimore Boulevard, where smoke was fuming from the building, officials said. 

Fire Chief Michael Robinson said two alarms were called, and more than 130 responded. 

Two Carroll County fire personnel were taken to the hospital with minor heat-related injuries, according to officials.

Robinson said the Battery Warehouse is a large retail store with hazardous materials, including lithium batteries.

"We did identify that we had an active fire in a pallet of batteries," Robinson said. "We identified them as both lead acid batteries and lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries are the most hazardous, and we believe one of them had a condition known as thermal runaway, which is a very dangerous condition."

On Tuesday, State Fire Marshal's officials said the fire took about two hours to bring under control and caused about $5 million to $6 million in losses. 

Officials believe the fire started in an interior storage area. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.