The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, North County Fire Protection District, and Pacific Gas & Electric issued a shelter-in-place advisory for nearby areas, including an interactive map showing which areas are affected and road closures. Residents are asked to shut all windows and turn off ventilation systems due to the ongoing hazardous waste material incident caused by the Tesla Megapack fire.
PG&E’s operations comm manager, Jeff Smith told The Verge that PG&E is working with fire and emergency services to provide enough space to safely stop the spread of the fire. As of 1:55PM ET, it appears that the fire is still burning. No injuries were reported at the scene.
Also per The Verge, Caltrans confirmed the fire closed a section of Highway 1 as fire crews deployed units to handle the blaze. The California Highway Patrol tweeted at 4:29PM that the closure has been extended due to air quality concerns, and there is no ETA for when it will be reopened. MORE@TheVerge
No power outages are as yet reported. PG&E spokesman says safety systems worked as designed and automatically disconnected
Per Reuters this is the second such fire for a Tesla Megapack battery, the previous one in Australia. For more on that fire, be sure to read through the full report from CNBC.
