June 28, 2023. Orange County officials say toxins like hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide may have been among dozens of chemicals people nearby were breathing during the fire that smoldered for weeks.

July 27th, 2023. Neighbors within a one mile radius of a large battery fire at a solar farm on County Route 179 in the Town of Lyme had been told to shelter in place due to concerns of toxic smoke. Fire crews from across the county fought the flames until they were finally extinguished around 11 a.m. on Sunday, July 30.

May 31st, 2023. A consequential health hazard was created when the Town of East Hampton’s primary water supply was poisoned by run-off water used to extinguish the fire at the East Hampton battery storage facility on May 31, 2023.  Toxins that can lead to cancer and other illnesses were released into our sole source of freshwater.

April 30th, 2022. This fire, at a relatively small BESS, burned for nearly two weeks. People in the area were told to evacuate while firefighters took a wait and watch approach; it was too dangerous to go inside the buildings to fight the fire. 

January 16, 2025. Roughly 1,200 people were ordered to evacuate their homes when Monterey County officials declared a local emergency after a fire ignited here.  The lithium ion batteries stored at the site released toxic gases when ignited. Experts say that includes heavy metals and perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, which the EPA says are "widely used, long-lasting chemicals, components of which break down very slowly over time."