When self-immolating lithium-ion batteries start spewing toxic smoke, the action last for days because firefighters won’t go near them. They simply let them burn themselves out, and if that takes a week, so be it.
And it’s not just those in service providing deadly pyrotechnic displays (see above the giant Tesla that burned for days in Victoria). Those past their use by dates are also giving thrilling thermal displays, as they turn their bevy of heavy metals and rare earths into impossible-to-control fires (they can’t be extinguished) and threaten the lives of neighbours for miles around – as occurred recently in France.
In the piece below, we quite like the understated explanation for all the ‘renewable’ energy storage excitement:
The chain reaction can happen when a lithium-ion battery creates heat faster than it can dissipate. That rapid increase of temperature can then turn to fire.
There’s another name for energy storage devices that release the energy they store with ferocious rapidity: ‘bombs’.
Otay Mesa battery facility fire could take weeks to put out entirely
Fox 5 San Diego and KUSI News
Kasia Gregorczyk
23 May 2024
A stubborn fire at a battery storage site in Otay Mesa is burning for a sixth day. Fire officials are preparing for it to potentially take weeks to put out.
“We’re not sure. We’re preparing for the worst and making plans to be here for a long time, two to four weeks and will reevaluate then,” said Captain Brent Pascua with Cal Fire San Diego.
The fire began last Wednesday at the Gateway Energy Storage facility and flare-ups over the weekend put evacuations warnings for the surrounding area back in place.
Cal Fire issues update on Otay Mesa battery storage site fire
Pascua said things began to reignite Friday night.
“You have to put water on it to keep the fire confined, but that water damages the batteries also allowing them to arc starting another fire. We’re just trying to keep the public safe and keep the fire contained to the building,” he said.
The chain reaction can happen when a lithium-ion battery creates heat faster than it can dissipate. That rapid increase of temperature can then turn to fire.
Fox 5 San Diego and KUSI News
STOP THESE THINGS 
Appropriate for a fire captain to be named Brent — very close to the Swedish word for “burnt” (bränt).