Home battery explodes and leaves house uninhabitable in Althengstett, Germany

What happened

A residential battery storage unit exploded in a house in Althengstett, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, on 8 May 2022, according to Blackout News. Homeowners noticed white smoke from the basement and tried to extinguish the burning battery themselves, suffering mild smoke inhalation. The fire brigade was on its way when the battery exploded. The pressure wave shattered all windows as well as the flat doors and the front door. Firefighters used four breathing apparatus teams, ventilated the house with positive pressure ventilators and cooled the salvaged remains of the storage tank in a water tank to prevent wider ignition.

The house was reported uninhabitable, and the initial damage estimate was around 500,000 euros. The battery, with about 6.5 kWh capacity, was fed by the house's PV system. The make of the battery was not known at the time of reporting. The incident followed a battery storage fire in Bondegg, Baden-Württemberg, earlier in the year.

Contributing factors

The cause was not reported and the make of the battery was not known at the time of reporting. The source notes that the manufacturer Senec had remotely deactivated its home storage units after several fires, and that most units had since been returned to operation.

Lessons learned

1. Install home battery storage away from escape routes and occupied rooms, preferably in a separate, fire-resistant space.
2. Occupants should not attempt to fight a lithium battery fire without training; they should leave, close doors and call the fire service.
3. Fire services should treat a damaged battery as a continuing hazard and plan for explosion and reignition, and cool remains in water before removal.

More lessons on worker safety and safe systems of work, fire suppression and firefighting, from every incident on the register.

Source

blackout-news.de