WARWICK — Three days after flames engulfed a lithium-ion battery storage facility in Orange County, town officials said the fire was still burning, prompting new concerns about air quality.
The fire overtook the Convergent battery storage site at 28 Church St. around 10:30 p.m. Friday, officials said. A spokesperson for the energy company said it was “too early” to know what caused the fire, but Warwick Village Mayor Michael Newhard said initial reports indicated it was sparked by water entering the storage system. Lithium inside the batteries can ignite when it comes into contact with water.
“Although the fire has diminished to very low levels as of today, it has continued to burn for several days and represents an enormous public safety concern,” Town Supervisor Jesse Dwyer wrote Monday in a post on the town’s Facebook page.
Thermal readings indicated the site was “still emitting heat” as of Monday morning and “had almost fully subsided” as of Monday afternoon, Dwyer said. The company spokesperson said the “fire extinguished within 24 hours,” a claim the supervisor called “nonsense.”
Orange County’s hazardous materials response team continued to monitor air quality for signs of elevated levels of toxic gases at and around the fire. The team had “reported no concerning air quality readings to date,” Dwyer said.
Often pitched as a way to help New York meet its renewable power goals, bulk battery energy storage systems have proven controversial in some communities. Proponents say the systems smooth out the inconsistencies of solar and wind generation by drawing power from the grid and releasing it during periods of high demand. But critics question the safety of the volatile and highly flammable batteries.
Lithium-ion batteries — used to power everything from cars to consumer electronics like cellphones and power tools — can start extremely hot fires that are difficult to extinguish. Once sparked, combustion inside the cells can cause a process known as “thermal runaway,” in which the fire becomes self-sustaining as it generates its own oxygen.
Dwyer said the facility previously went up in flames in 2023 in what he described as “a similar incident.” That fire prompted town officials to enact a moratorium prohibiting the construction of any new battery energy storage facilities, he said.
The Convergent spokesperson said the company replaced the batteries after the 2023 fire and that those batteries had been tested and reviewed by “multiple” third parties. According to the company’s website, Warwick substation was designed to store back-up energy for about 7,500 Orange and Rockland county households.
Newhard said his office had requested additional monitoring near Veterans Memorial Park “in case winds blow in that direction.”
“This is a difficult time, especially during the holidays, but we will make sure we are safe in our community,” Newhard said.
Dwyer said he would continue to oppose the expansion of battery storage technology in the town.
“The current technology surrounding battery energy storage facilities is not reliable or safe enough to justify placing these facilities in or near our neighborhoods,” he wrote. “Two fires at the same site in a short span of time is not an anomaly — it is a warning.”