How a Sacramento warehouse is designed to prevent lithium-ion battery fires
SACRAMENTO — This week's Tesla semi-truck fire on Interstate 80, which burned for hours, highlighted the challenges that first responders face when fighting electric battery fires.
Lithium-ion batteries have fueled fire concerns nationwide, and the company ALOM is taking precautions as it celebrates the grand opening of its new manufacturing and distribution warehouse in north Natomas.
ALOM celebrated the grand opening of its new manufacturing and distribution warehouse in north Natomas. This massive facility is specially designed to safely meet the growing demand for products that use rechargeable batteries.
"We manage batteries in all sizes, from the smallest battery that goes into the hearing aid to the ones that go into your house," ALOM CEO Hannah Kain.
Storing lithium-ion batteries creates an increased fire risk because they can spontaneously ignite and take more time and resources to extinguish.
On Monday, I-80 was closed for more than 12 hours when a Tesla big rig crashed and caught fire. In May, a fire inside a similar warehouse near San Diego burned for more than two weeks.
"These batteries bring oxygen to the party," said Brandon Marugg, ALOM COO. "They don't need the oxygen in the air so they can just keep burning even though they're being doused with water."
The new Sacramento warehouse now has special air monitoring equipment to detect overheating batteries.
"This is detecting not just smoke, but this particular off-gassing," Marugg said.
The shelves have fire sprinklers built into each rack that can help stop a fire from spreading.
"Now, you're getting water directly on one of these things if they go into thermal runaway," Marugg said.
Even the building has been fire-hardened.
"There are big thick walls that go all the way to the ceiling, big thick doors that are two-hour fire rated," Marugg said.
It's a series of new safety measures not common in other warehouses, putting ALOM at the forefront of new fire prevention efforts.
"We think we'll be ahead of the fire codes for another 5 to 10 years," Marugg said.
The warehouse currently has about 20 employees and that could grow to more than 200 once the facility is fully operational.
