A massive fire broke out at a Californian power plant early Friday morning, threatening one of the largest battery energy storage facilities in the world.
The blaze began in a building containing lithium-ion batteries hours earlier, an official at the Monterey County Sheriff’s office told the BBC.
The Moss Landing power plant, run by Vistra Corp, was evacuated, as were people in the surrounding area. No injuries were reported.
Officials are not actively fighting the fire, the Monterey Sheriff spokesperson said, and are instead leaving the building and the batteries to burn on the advice of fire experts.
Hundreds of people have been ordered to evacuate and part of Highway 1 in Northern California has been closed.
The Moss Landing Power Plant, located about 77 miles south of San Francisco, is owned by Texas-based company Vistra Energy and contains tens of thousands of lithium batteries, the Independent reports.