Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Fire chief warns battery 'thermal runaway' can be unstoppable; Cleantech survey finds majority support for batteries
Loading...
Summary
San Diego Fire‑Rescue battalion chief described lithium‑ion failure modes and the difficulty of extinguishing thermal runaway, while CleanTech San Diego presented a county survey showing majority support for residential and commercial battery storage despite high‑profile incidents.
San Diego Community Power's board heard an informational update on Nov. 13 about battery energy storage systems that combined a technical briefing from a regional fire response coordinator with results from a public‑opinion survey.
Battalion Chief Robert Rezende (San Diego Fire‑Rescue) delivered a technical 'Battery 101,' describing common lithium‑ion battery formats, three primary failure modes (mechanical, electrical and thermal), and the phenomenon of thermal runaway — a chemical chain reaction he said cannot be stopped once it begins. Rezende described the gases produced during a failure (hydrogen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen fluoride and other volatile organic compounds), the potential for repeated reignition over hours or days, and the resource strain such multi‑day incidents can place on fire services, including large mutual‑aid responses.
Rezende noted that modern codes and standards such as NFPA 855 and UL 9540 / UL 9540A and California Fire Code Chapter 12 have strengthened design and testing requirements for new systems. He also described state legislation (SB 283, AB 303 and AB 588 among others he cited) that aims to improve training, buffer zones and coordination between operators and local first responders. Rezende emphasized that many failures in the past involved legacy installations not built to current standards.
Jason Anderson of CleanTech San Diego presented findings from an online survey of roughly 856 respondents designed to measure public sentiment about battery storage. Anderson reported majority support for residential batteries (≈61%), commercial projects (≈63%) and countywide battery storage (≈65%), and he said support varied by supervisor district. Anderson also said that, after providing respondents with factual messaging about relative incident rates and standards, support tended to increase.
Board members asked about mutual aid, funding for prolonged responses, training and emerging safety technologies. Rezende described regional HAZMAT and mutual‑aid arrangements, ongoing statewide training curriculum development and potential funding mechanisms such as manufacturer recycling and disposal fees. Anderson offered to share the full survey cross‑tabs with board members for district‑level analysis.
The item was informational; the board received and filed the presentations and there was no policy vote connected to the update.
