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Port Washington crews contain lithium-ion battery fire at Veolia; separate missing-person search resolved
Summary
Firefighters contained a thermal-runaway battery fire at Veolia's South Park Street facility with minimal damage, and later that month crews completed a fast, multi-agency search for a missing South Beach resident who was found safe at a relative's Grafton apartment.
Firefighters responded in June to a lithium-ion battery fire at Veolia’s recycling and processing facility on South Park Street and contained the incident with sprinklers and rapid overhaul, Fire Department leaders said July 14.
Chief DeBoer told the Police and Fire Commission the battery underwent thermal runaway; the fire was under a sprinkler head and crews limited damage so the facility was operating again the next day. Mutual-aid resources assisted because the building stored hazardous materials, DeBoer said. Crews placed batteries into a roll-off dumpster filled with water and conducted overhaul while working in breathing apparatus during a day with an elevated heat index.
The department also described a large, coordinated missing-person response stemming from South Beach. Crews and police searched downtown areas, both beaches and 21 miles of bike trail within an hour; the subject was later located at his mother’s apartment in Grafton after a good Samaritan had taken him home. The department set up a unified command post and credited the law enforcement partnership for the quick resolution.
DeBoer said the month of June included an unusually high number of fire calls — 40 — and that many were false alarms or detector/system problems. One commissioner asked whether “fire alarm calls” indicated false alarms; DeBoer said the category includes false alarms, alarm-system malfunctions and other detector issues.
No injuries or extensive property loss were reported for the Veolia incident in the commission briefing. The department noted the call was labor intensive because of the number and type of batteries and the extreme heat conditions on the day of the response.
