Battery container fire causes EUR 700,000 damage at German test centre

What happened

On 7 June 2024 batteries in an overseas container caught fire at the engineering and test centre of Suncycle in Thuringia, Germany, according to ESS News citing local media reports. The fire department took more than four hours to extinguish the fire, which produced significant amounts of smoke. The district office asked residents to keep windows and doors closed, and the federal German government's warning app was triggered. Firefighters used a grappling hook to open the container doors, cooled the batteries with water and extinguished the fire.

The affected container was pulled away from other battery containers with a tractor to stop the flames spreading. The damage is estimated at EUR 700,000. Suncycle had not released a statement or answered press enquiries at the time of reporting.

Contributing factors

The cause is still unclear, but a technical defect is suspected. The source does not describe the battery chemistry, the equipment supplier or the system design.

Lessons learned

1. Separate battery containers promptly to limit fire spread, as was done here with a tractor.
2. Plan for container fires that need long cooling periods and forced access through doors, since the fire took more than four hours to extinguish.
3. Warn nearby residents early about smoke, with clear shelter-in-place advice and alert systems.

More lessons on spacing, layout and fire spread, fire suppression and firefighting, emergency response and public communication, from every incident on the register.

Source

ess-news.com