Fire Breaks Out at Moss Landing Battery Storage Facility

A fire broke out at the Vistra Power Plant in Moss Landing on Thursday afternoon, triggering immediate evacuation of staff from the premises and later, road closures and wider evacuations “due to concerns over hazardous materials and potential chemical releases,” CNN reported. According to Mercury News, residents who were not evacuated were later advised to “to stay indoors, keep their windows and doors closed, turn off their ventilation systems and limit outdoor exposure.”

While fire crews were monitoring the situation, they did not attempt to put out the fire, which “raged out of control Thursday night,” Mercury News reported this morning. ABC 7 News reported the lithium ion batteries housed in the power plant are hard to put out when on fire. “That’s why officials decided to let the fire burn. No injuries have been reported, a Monterey County sheriff’s official said.”

KSBW 8 shared this video on their social pages.

At 10:00 a.m. Friday, North Monterey County Fire Department chief Joel Mendoza told Mercury News, “I’m happy to announce at this point that most of the fire is out. We have very little active fire, very little products of combustion being released into the atmosphere.” According to county officials, 75% of the battery plant has been burned.

“At this time, no imminent significant threat exists and people may resume normal activities,” Cal Fire CZU San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit advised in a social media post at 7:44 this morning.

The Moss Landing energy storage facility houses lithium ion batteries, and according to owners Vistra Corp., its 750 MW/3,000 MWh capacity makes it the “largest of its kind in the world.”

We reached out to the Elkhorn Yacht Club to check on the situation at their marina this morning. At the time of this writing we had no reply.