Container fire at SDG&E Escondido battery storage yard, California
Sept 2024Published 1 May 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor
- Where
- Escondido Northeast Operations Yard, Escondido, California
- Operator
- San Diego Gas and Electric
- What
- Fire contained to one battery container at BESS facility
- Injuries
- None reported
- Response
- Fire service and hazmat teams attended for 13 hours
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Companies named in the reporting of this entry (being named is not a finding of fault): San Diego Gas and Electric, SDG&E
What happened
In September 2024, a fire was reported shortly after midday at the utility-scale battery energy storage facility at the Escondido Northeast Operations Yard, an Escondido substation-connected BESS in Escondido, California, operated and owned by San Diego Gas and Electric, using battery equipment supplied by AES. The facility comprised 24 battery containers and the fire remained contained to a single container. The local authority issued evacuation orders for an area of roughly 400 by 600 metres around the site, with shelter in place instructions for a slightly wider area.
The local fire service attended together with county hazardous materials teams, whose attendance is required under local protocol for lithium-ion battery fires. Crews applied water to the surrounding, non-burning containers for exposure protection and allowed the affected container to burn out. The fire was declared out and cold about 13 hours after the initial report, and evacuation orders were lifted around midday the following day. No injuries were reported. Air quality was monitored by several agencies throughout the response and was reported as remaining within safe limits.
Contributing factors
Public reporting at the time stated that the cause was to be established through a review by San Diego Gas and Electric. No root cause had been publicly confirmed at the point of the source reporting. This entry is therefore limited to the publicly confirmed facts of the event and the emergency response.
Lessons learned
- Containerised BESS layout must keep thermal events within one unit, with separation distances verified against enclosure design.
- Fire service response plan should record the tactic of controlled burn out with exposure protection for adjacent units.
- Lithium-ion battery fire calls should trigger automatic dispatch of hazardous materials teams under local protocol.
More lessons on spacing, layout and fire spread, fire suppression and firefighting, from every incident on the register.
Not yet known
- Cause of the fire
- Battery container model and age
- Duration of site downtime
- Cost of the incident
This entry is updated when these are reported. Get an alert for the next one like it.
Site page: Escondido Energy Storage (status, dates and other incidents)
Published 2026-05-01. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.
