La Verne evacuation orders still in place from lithium-ion battery fire at Metropolitan Water District

Residents in La Verne remained under evacuation orders on Wednesday, more than a day after a hazardous lithium-ion fire broke out at the Metropolitan Water District.

The La Verne Police Department said the fire erupted at around 11:40 a.m. Tuesday at the facility in the 3200 block of Wheeler Avenue. La Verne firefighters said that upon arrival, they heard a small explosion in a battery storage unit on the northeast side of the large facility. 

Evacuations were briefly issued for everyone near Wheeler and Bonita Avenue, and police urged residents to gather their families and leave the area. Some orders were downgraded later in the evening. 

On Wednesday, police said that as the situation continued, about 500 homes were impacted by evacuation orders and warnings. 

During a news conference on Wednesday afternoon, La Verne firefighters said they checked the battery's temperature multiple times via drone and noticed it experienced a spike each time, despite spraying the unit with water throughout the day.

"With the spike that we had this afternoon, we noticed that in the original battery that was burning yesterday, we noticed an area that had spiked up to around 300 degrees there," said La Verne Fire Chief Brandon Coatney. "There's one section of that battery that hasn't fully, you know, obviously there's still components inside that battery that have not been consumed by fire yet, so they're still going into thermal runaway."

Coatney said that temperatures in the second battery also spiked upon each check.

Aerial footage of the fire showed fire engines using their ladders to spray the area with water.

One injury has been reported by firefighters, but they did not say whether it was a civilian or a crew member. 

The cause of the fire is unknown, but according to the City of La Verne's incident website for the fire, the blaze is "believed to have been caused by a lithium battery explosion."

Schools impacted as firefighters work to control fire

Residents east of Wheeler Avenue were also told to shelter in place and close all windows and doors until further notice. At the time, shelter-in-place orders were issued at Grace Miller Elementary School and Bonita High School, but students were released from their campuses a little after 3 p.m.

Grace Miller Elementary, which is less than half a mile from the water district facility, was closed on Wednesday out of an abundance of caution, firefighters said. Police also said that the campus would be closed Thursday.

La Verne firefighters said they believe they have the fire under control, but crews remained on scene overnight to ensure they could address any issues that may arise. Late Tuesday night, they said that there were still some batteries inside the storage unit that were not damaged, meaning they were still energized and could pose a further threat if flames were to reactivate overnight.

Firefighters are still monitoring a second storage unit near the spot of the fire due to heat and smoke exposure.

Pelota Park, which is located at 1505 Holly Oak Street, was also closed for all planned sporting events on Wednesday, La Verne police said. 

Evacuation orders issued 

Evacuations were temporarily issued for several neighborhoods in the surrounding area but were lifted at around 4 p.m. 

As of Wednesday morning, evacuation orders remained in place for: 

• LVN-E010-A

Evacuation warnings were also issued for:

• LVN-E010-B
• LVN-E010-C

Advisories are in place for:

• LVN-E009
• LVN-E011
• LVN-E012
• LVN-E1311

"We don't want you in there until we get these completely under control," said La Verne FD Battalion Chief Mark Savage on Tuesday. "Things are looking much better now, however, it's batteries and they can have a mind of their own a little bit. So, we want to make sure we get people out of harm's way and keep them out while it can still be hazardous."

Air quality issues being tracked, but no hazards detected

South Coast Air Quality Management District officials have been tracking the air quality around the battery units throughout the incident, and have not yet noted anything of concern. 

"We're continuing to monitor the air to make sure there's nothing hazardous that's escaping from that area, the best we can," Coatney said.

Los Angeles County Fire Department's Ernie Hernandez said that they detected some low level gasses that are typical of battery fires, but the perimeter surrounding the facility was unaffected. 

Hernandez said that they had taken water samples at the facility, and that they were at the lab awaiting testing. 

They also said that they were testing water samples.