SPOKANE, Wash. — A fire broke out at a lithium battery warehouse in Spokane’s Hillyard neighborhood early this morning, according to Spokane Fire Department.
Firefighters responded around 4 a.m. to a warehouse for MaxAmps Lithium Batteries, a company that manufactures lithium-ion batteries for drones.
Lithium batteries can also be found in electronics like our cell phones, electric cars and electric toothbrushes.
SFD said the fire took hours to put out.
“With these lasting batteries, once they get involved in the fire, they’re really hard to put out,” said SFD’s Justin DeRuyter.
Initially, two blocks of Hillyard were evacuated due to concerns about the toxic effect of burning batteries.
Crews used a lot of water to eventually put out the flames and then turned their attention to making sure the air was safe.
SFD worked with the Department of Ecology to monitor the air quality.
“Runoff on this site specifically has been able to be maintained to the site,” said Sean Thompson of Washington State Department of Ecology.
Evacuations were soon reduced to just the area around the warehouse and the house next door, leaving three people unable to return home Tuesday night.
There are still a lot of questions about lithium batteries and their effect on the environment and health.
“This is a new thing, even for us, that we’re up against,” Thompson said.
SFD said no injuries were reported but that two of the warehouse buildings are complete losses.
Fire crews said they will decontaminate all of the equipment used to put out the fire to rid them of any possible toxins from the batteries.
There is a risk that the fire could reignite, so SFD and the Department of Ecology will continue to monitor the area for the next few days.
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