The Summary
- One of the biggest cleanup challenges from the Southern California fires is lithium-ion batteries, which can explode after damage or exposure to heat.
- The batteries are found in electric vehicles, which abounded in some burned neighborhoods, including Pacific Palisades.
- The process of neutralizing the batteries is complex, requiring a high level of technical sophistication.
The significant quantity of lithium-ion batteries that were engulfed in the flames is one of the main obstacles facing cleanup efforts in the wildfire-affected neighborhoods in the Los Angeles area.
The batteries are used in golf carts, e-bikes, laptops, telephones, and wireless earbuds, and they power the majority of electric and plug-in hybrid cars. They are also present in power banks, which are becoming more and more common in households and offer backup energy during blackouts.
Lithium-ion batteries have the potential to burn or even explode if they are damaged or overheated. The leftover heat starts a chain reaction that can cause the batteries to heat up uncontrollably and spontaneously over the course of days, weeks, or months.
Electric vehicles were more prevalent than usual on properties in Altadena and Pacific Palisades, where the Palisades and Eaton fires have damaged at least 12,000 buildings between them, according to officials.
According to Steve Calanog, the Environmental Protection Agency’s incident commander for the cleanup efforts of the Palisades and Eaton fires, this will likely be the largest lithium-ion battery pickup and cleanup in history.
However, that cleanup process is resource-intensive and complicated.
Hazmat teams have already been dispatched by the California Office of Emergency Services to search residences for lithium-ion batteries and mark any locations where they are found. The EPA will supervise efforts to collect them through what it calls a battery recovery team. The collecting procedure may begin as early as Monday, according to Chris Myers, a technical specialist in lithium-ion batteries who is working on the EPA cleanup.
“It is highly probable that not all of these batteries were destroyed in the fire, so they are now damaged, which implies that they are all dangerous,” he stated. According to Myers, even cars damaged by the flames might still have charged batteries because hybrid and electric car battery systems are well-protected.
According to Calanog, handling the batteries calls for a high level of technical expertise and caution. The EPA staff is required to wear disposable safety suites over flame-resistant apparel. Their faces are covered by masks that either attach to air tanks or have cartridges that can be inserted to filter out chemicals. In the event that flames break out, the crew keeps water on hand and shuts off the area where they are working.
The gathered batteries must be de-energized so that they have little or no charge before they can be delivered to a garbage or recycling center. According to Myers, the EPA would probably do that by immersing the batteries in a mixture of baking soda and saltwater, a procedure created following the Maui wildfire in 2023. When the batteries are no longer charged, they can either be transported to a facility in specialized packaging or crushed using a steamroller.
Since hybrid and electric car sales are on the rise, especially in California, lithium-ion batteries have become a growing problem following wildfires. By 2026, 35% of newly sold vehicles in the state must be emission-free, and by 2035, all new vehicles must be emission-free.
According to the California Energy Commission, at least 581,000 zero-emission vehicles, including plug-in hybrids and completely electric automobiles, were sold in Los Angeles County in the previous 15 years, with around 99,000 of those sales occurring in 2024. Between 2010 and 2024, about 5,500 zero-emission cars were sold in Pacific Palisades alone.
Adam VanGerpen, a public relations officer for the Los Angeles City Fire Department, stated that there are likely a lot more electric vehicles in this neighborhood than in others. Many of these people also had solar batteries for their wall power banks and solar roofs.
The most dangerous batteries are found in cars that have been partially burned rather than completely destroyed, according to Yuzhang Li, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at UCLA.
Since the battery has most likely been destroyed by the fire, I would say the risk is very low if the electric car has already caught fire and burned out, he said.
Since hazardous wastes like asbestos, batteries, oil, and paint can emit harmful vapors, officials are prioritizing the removal of these objects from properties as part of phase one of the massive cleanup effort following the fires in Southern California.
According to Calanog, the full procedure can take roughly six months.
Although the magnitude here is undoubtedly a significant obstacle, Myers stated that the battery recovery procedure won’t slow down that schedule.
According to Calanog, the EPA has not yet made a decision about the hazardous waste’s disposal location, but there are other options.
According to VanGerpen, there might be restrictions on the amount of hazardous trash that these facilities can accept because many of them are located outside of California.
Before authorities can proceed to the next stage of the cleanup, which involves removing debris, the waste must be eliminated. Residents should refrain from searching through debris until their property has been declared safe, VanGerpen advised.
He advised residents not to attempt to remove dangerous material. Even commonplace home objects can be risky and hazardous.