La Verne residents voice concerns over further community safety after lithium-ion battery fire
La Verne city leaders on Tuesday declared a state of emergency after the hazardous lithium-ion battery fire that erupted at the Metropolitan Water District earlier this month.
City council members unanimously voted to approve the declaration, which will allow them to begin recovering community losses from the ordeal, which forced hundreds of people to evacuate their homes as firefighters worked to control the flames at the Wheeler Avenue facility.
La Verne Fire Department officials addressed the crowd, discussing the efforts that were made by firefighters to suppress flames and the potential release of toxic materials in the neighborhoods surrounding the water plant. The storage units impacted by the fire were containing equipment used to store solar energy.
"This is a newer technology. ... Had we stood back and just let that go, it would have went into thermal runaway and we would have had a huge plume go throughout the city," said La Verne FD Chief Brandon Coatney.
During the meeting, city leaders said that approximately 500 homes and nearly 30 businesses were in the area where evacuations were ordered for several days. Additionally, several schools had classes canceled early or altogether as the situation continued to develop.
Now, residents are demanding accountability from the Metropolitan Water District and raising questions as to why they weren't informed of the environmental hazard being stored near their homes.
"I think it's very concerning that this was right up against our wall," said Susan Prado, who lives in one of the evacuated neighborhoods. "We did not know there was a potential danger."
When asked if there are other similar battery storage sites in the city, La Verne fire officials said there were, and that they would make a list of the locations available for those interested.
Water district officials also spoke during the meeting.
"Something went terribly wrong, and we know we need to do better," a spokesperson for the company said. "Metropolitan is not going to shirk their responsibilities to support this city."
Mayor Tim Hepburn said that priority one is getting the claims process started so evacuees and business owners affected by the crisis can be made whole again.
"That's the real big thing right now, as far as how we move forward with MWD, that's for down the road to figure out where we're at, how it happened and how we're gonna prevent this from. happening again to create such havoc in our city," Hepburn said.
According to La Verne officials, the battery storage equipment is still under warranty, and they believe that the company is on the hook for whatever is determined to have gone wrong.
