Lawsuit Blames PG&E, Vistra for Toxic Fire at Monterey Battery Storage Facility

Four people are suing PG&E and the operators of a Monterey County battery storage facility that caught fire last month, releasing toxic chemicals and raising health concerns.

The lawsuit claims Vistra Corp, which runs the facility, knew or should have known the risks of operating a facility with over 100,000 lithium batteries and failed to take safety measures to prevent or contain the fire. It criticizes the battery types used, the indoor storage of some units and an allegedly faulty and inadequate heat-suppression system.

The fire erupted inside a facility building on the afternoon of Jan. 16, forcing the evacuation of about 1,500 people, according to the lawsuit.

Because battery fires are difficult and dangerous to extinguish, emergency responders often let them burn out, a strategy officials followed in this case.

The fire burned and flared well into the next day, ultimately destroying 80% of the building and its batteries, according to local officials.

The lawsuit alleges the facility relied on lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide batteries, prone to overheating more than newer alternatives, and overcrowded them inside the building.

In a process known as thermal runaway, a faulty battery cell can overheat, releasing flammable gases that can ignite upon contact with oxygen and rapidly spread fire to nearby batteries.

“They used these lithium-ion batteries to store electricity knowing that they were using the more dangerous type of battery and they put the batteries indoors, which you should never do,” said Knut Johnson, an attorney representing the residents. “Fewer than 1% of all large electronic storage facilities have batteries indoors because it is very dangerous.”

Other experts echoed that concern in the days after the fire.

“It’s relatively uncommon to have lithium-ion batteries in a giant building like that. Many of these new batteries that are being built are actually built in containers,” Dustin Mulvaney, a professor of environmental studies at San José State University, told KQED. “Those containers are separated … You could control the spread of the fire to some extent by just keeping those adjacent containers cool. Inside of a building. There’s no way to do that.”

The day after the fire, local officials disclosed that the building’s fire suppression system failed to activate.

“Additionally, the Moss Landing BESS suffered two previous fires, one in 2021 and one in 2022. Defendant VISTRA’s own investigation of those fires highlighted the deficiencies of the fire suppression system at the Moss Landing BESS, yet no changes were made,” the complaint states.

Vistra Corp declined to comment for this story.

The lawsuit also claims that PG&E shares responsibility, as it draws power from the facility and has a say in the equipment used there.

“The Moss Landing power plant is located adjacent to — but walled off and separate from — PG&E’s Moss Landing electric substation,” PG&E said in a statement.

The four plaintiffs in the lawsuit are seeking compensation for the harm caused by the fire, including forced evacuations and property damage covered in soot and ash, which may contain toxic compounds.

A field survey by San José State University’s Moss Landing Marine Laboratories detected unusually high levels of nickel, manganese and cobalt in soils within 2 miles of the lithium battery storage site, linking the contamination to the fire.

A Facebook group focused on potential health effects from the fire quickly grew to thousands of members, as locals reported a foul odor, a metallic taste and symptoms such as headaches, sore throats and nausea they suspected were related to the blaze.

“Many people in the community are now being tested for heavy metals in their system. They’re questioning whether they can put their children back in the schools, use the local facilities like playgrounds for kids,” Johnson, the lawyer, said. “What they’ve suffered immediately is very significant. What they could suffer over the long run is something we’re going to have to figure out.”