California fire cleanup: Lithium-ion batteries are a dangerous challenge
One of the biggest clean-up challenges from the Southern California fires is lithium-ion batteries, which can explode after damage or exposure to heat.
As cleanup efforts get underway in the Los Angeles area neighborhoods marred by wildfires, one of the biggest challenges is the large number of lithium-ion batteries that were caught in the flames.
The batteries power most plug-in hybrid cars and electric vehicles, and are used in golf carts, e-bikes, laptops, cellphones and wireless earbuds. They’re also found in power banks that provide backup energy during outages, which have become increasingly popular in homes.
If damaged or overheated, lithium-ion batteries can ignite or even explode — residual heat sets off a chain reaction that causes the batteries to heat up uncontrollably and spontaneously combust, a process that can happen over days, weeks or months.
Properties in Pacific Palisades and Altadena, where the Palisades and Eaton fires have collectively destroyed at least 12,000 structures, had higher-than-average numbers of electric vehicles, officials said.
“This will be … from our estimation, probably the largest lithium-ion battery pickup, cleanup, that’s ever happened in the history of the world,” said Steve Calanog, the Environmental Protection Agency’s incident commander for the Palisades and Eaton fire cleanups.
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