Lithium-ion batteries are a dangerous challenge

As the cleaning efforts in the neighborhoods of the Los Angeles area affected by forest fires are launched, one of the biggest challenges is the large number of lithium -ion batteries that were trapped in the flames.

The batteries feed most of the plug -in hybrid cars and electric vehicles, and are used in golf carts, electric bicycles, laptops, mobile phones and wireless headphones. They are also found in energy banks that provide supporting energy during blackouts, which have become increasingly popular in homes.

If they are damaged or overheated, lithium -ion batteries can turn on or even explode: the residual heat triggers a chain reaction that makes the batteries heat uncontrollably and burn spontaneously, a process that can occur for days, weeks or months.

The properties in Pacific Palisades and Altadena, where the fires of Palisades and Eaton collectively destroyed at least 12,000 structures, had an amount of electric vehicles higher than the average, the officials said.

“This will be … According to our estimate, probably the collection and cleaning of lithium -lithium ions batter of Palisades and Eaton fires.

But that cleaning process is complex and requires many resources.

The California emergency service office has already sent teams of hazardous materials to inspect houses for lithium -ion batteries and point out where they are present. The EPA has what it calls a battery recovery team that will supervise efforts to collect them. Chris Myers, a technical specialist in lithium -ion batteries involved in the cleaning of the EPA, said the collection process could begin on Monday.

“It is very likely that these batteries were not all consumed in the fire, so they are now damaged, which means that they are all dangerous,” he said. Myers explained that the battery systems of hybrid and electric cars are well protected, so even vehicles that were damaged by fires can still have loaded batteries.

The handling of batteries “requires a lot of technical sophistication and care,” said Calan. The EPA equipment should wear fire resistant clothes under disposable protective costumes. The masks cover their faces and come with insertable cartridges to filter chemicals or connect to air tanks. The team blocks the area where it is working and maintains water in the place that the flames burst.

Before being able to send them to an installation of waste or recycling, the collected batteries must be described so that they do not have a load or have very little load. To do that, said Myers, the EPA will probably use a process developed after Maui’s forest fire in 2023, which involves immersing batteries in a salty water solution and sodium bicarbonate. Once the batteries have lost their burden, they can crush themselves with a sponator or send to an installation in a special packaging.

Lithium ion batteries have become a growing problem after forest fires, given the increase in hybrid and electric cars sales, particularly in California. The State will require that 35% of new vehicles sold in the state have zero emissions by 2026, and that all new vehicles have zero emissions by 2035.

In Los Angeles County, in the last 15 years at least 581,000 vehicles of zero emissions were sold, including plug -in hybrids and fully electric cars, of which around 99,000 were sold in 2024, according to the California Energy Commission. In Pacific Palisades alone, more than 5,500 zero broadcasts between 2010 and 2024 were sold.

“There are a lot of electric vehicles in this area, probably much more than in other areas,” said Adam Vangerpen, public information officer of the Fire Department of the City of Los Angeles. “Many of these people also had solar roofs and solar batteries for energy banks.”

Yuzhang Li, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering in UCLA, said that the most risky batteries are those of cars that were partially burned, instead of completely destroyed.

“If the electric vehicle already caught fire and burned, then I would say that the risk is relatively minimal, because presumably all the fire destroyed the battery,” he said.

While the authorities begin the huge process of cleaning the fires of southern California, its first priority, which the EPA calls “phase one”, is to eliminate from the properties the hazardous waste such as asbestos, batteries, oil and paint, since the Materials can release toxic fumes.

The whole process could take about six months, said Calan.

Myers said that the battery recovery process will not slow down that schedule, although “the scale here is certainly a great challenge.”

As for where to get rid of hazardous waste, Calanog said the EPA has not yet decided and that there are several places available.

However, Vangerpen said that many facilities that receive hazardous waste are located outside California and there may be limits on the amount of waste that are willing to accept.

Waste must be eliminated before authorities can move on to the next phase of cleaning: remove the debris. Vangerpen urged residents to avoid checking the debris until their property is considered safe.

“Residents should not go and try to withdraw dangerous debris,” he said. “Only usual domestic articles can be dangerous and assume a risk.”