A backyard shed blaze in Visalia, California, was extinguished quickly on Wednesday, but the incident remained dangerous even after the flames were out.<\/p>\n
Firefighters found that a battery-powered wall in the shed had gone into thermal runaway, producing extreme heat and potentially hazardous emissions and prompting officials to tell nearby residents to shelter in place.<\/p>\n
What happened?<\/p>\n
At about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, the Visalia Fire Department answered a call about a residential fire and arrived to find a shed burning behind a home, KSEE\/KGPE<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n After putting out the flames, crews located a battery energy storage system inside the shed, also known as a battery power wall.<\/p>\n The Visalia Fire Department said that the battery kept off intense heat and potentially dangerous emissions even after the fire was contained. Officials identified the condition as thermal runaway, a dangerous chain reaction that can continue inside damaged batteries.<\/p>\n Because the threat persisted, residents nearby were instructed to shelter in place while crews managed the remaining hazard.<\/p>\n Why does it matter?<\/p>\n A shelter-in-place order in a neighborhood is a major disruption, especially when the concern is heat and emissions that may not be visible in the same way as an open fire.<\/p>\n The incident highlights a broader public safety issue as battery storage systems become more common. Home batteries can help residents store solar energy and maintain power during outages, which is especially appealing in a state that has faced grid strain, heat waves, and wildfire-related blackouts.<\/p>\n There is also an environmental concern. A localized fire can quickly become a neighborhood-wide problem when smoke or other emissions force residents indoors and put additional pressure on first responders.<\/p>\n What’s being done?<\/p>\n After keeping the shed fire from spreading, firefighters secured the scene while the battery continued reacting.<\/p>\n To reduce possible exposure, officials also issued a shelter-in-place notice for nearby residents.<\/p>\n As battery backup systems continue to spread, communities will need strong safety standards, clear response plans, and public awareness.<\/p>\n By Wednesday evening, the roads were reopened, and the shelter-in-place order had been lifted.\u00a0<\/p>\n Get TCD’s free newsletters<\/a> for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A backyard shed blaze in Visalia, California, was extinguished quickly on Wednesday, but the incident remained dangerous even…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422263,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[121516,7,9,8,20274,81964,168560,39355,168559,5386,168558],"class_list":["post-422262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-battery-energy-storage-system","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-extreme-heat","tag-nearby-residents","tag-potentially-hazardous-emissions","tag-shelter-in-place","tag-thermal-runaway","tag-visalia","tag-visalia-fire-department"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}