A truck filled with batteries has been burning for nearly a full day, shutting down ports in LA

A truck filled with lithium-ion batteries is burning in Los Angeles, shutting down ports and a bridge. It’s not clear what the batteries have been for — however LA’s Vincent Thomas Bridge, resulting in the Port of Los Angeles and next-door Port of Lengthy Seaside, has been shut down for no less than 15 hours now whereas native firefighters let the truck burn. State Route 47 was additionally closed in each instructions as of a pair hours in the past.

Amazingly, an area towing firm caught the explosion on digicam from a close-by drone:

Each the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Lengthy Seaside have shut down numerous terminals whereas the fireplace continues to burn. As of 12:10PM PT Friday, the truck was nonetheless on fireplace, and each the ports and bridge have been nonetheless closed, Los Angeles Fireplace Division spokesperson Ren Medina informed The Verge.

As we’ve seen with a number of EV battery fires, massive concentrated lithium battery fires could be very tough to place out: firefighters generally douse them with hundreds of gallons of water solely to see the fireplace restart as extra battery cells warmth as much as the purpose they combust. As soon as a cell will get sizzling sufficient, it’s stated to enter “thermal runaway,” at which level it might generally restart a fireplace. The LAFD confirms it is a case of thermal runaway.

EV packs are significantly dense with cells, however we don’t but know in the event that they have been concerned right here — the LA Fireplace Division spokesperson says it’s not even clear who owns the truck, not to mention what it was carrying but. LAFD might solely verify they’re lithium-ion batteries at this level.

Pepe’s Towing Service proprietor Josh Acosta, who filmed the explosion along with his drone, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. However he’s apparently planning to publish extra footage: “Full video on YouTube goes to be insane!!!” he wrote.

Umar Shakir contributed to this story.