Live updates: Brush fire burns in Pacific Palisades as Santa Ana winds blast Southern California - Live video at link

John Badman said:
Did a power plant just catch on fire? Holy shit WAKE UP THEY HIT THE PENTAGON
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Yes, not to be outdone by LA, San Francisco's Moss Landing power plant presumably went into thermal runaway.

Take that, EVs! Here's an unprecedented amount of lithium ion batteries roasting.

It's been burning for hours, steadily. Not growing but not shrinking.
 
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More angles. They've reiterated several times this IS burning within the building that's supposed to contain one of the world's largest set of batteries.
And it doesn't seem to be burning more of the building itself. The chance that this isn't a ton of toxic rare earth chemicals burning up is smaller and smaller, but I could be wrong.
 
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Not Really Here said:
And L.A. can't figure out how to remove dangerous brush when it's still green.
It's like if Buffalo NY was suddenly like "Snow plows? Um, we sent half to Ukraine, and we can only get drivers for 10% of the remaining." during the first blizzard of winter.

This is 190 proof retardation, and it's only January. The writers for the 2025 season of Earth simulation are starting strong.
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The Santa Ana winds that drove this fire are entirely predictable. They're so predictable they NAMED them. The high growth rate of plants after a particularly rainy year, and subsequent drying out of said growth during drought is just as predictable. And not one measure was taken by Newsom or Bass or anyone in power to clear the dry brush in a timely manner. You really couldn't have just done a controlled burn when there was no wind, or sent crews up there to clear brush, or ensure that all the reservoirs were filled prior to fire season, or done any of the 27 goddamn things that would have prevented this disaster that you could have seen coming a mile away?

This happened to Lahaina in 2023. This happened to Boulder in 2021. This happened to Paradise in 2018. This happened to Ventura in 2017. This happened to Oakland in 1991. This happened to Bel Air in 1961. How the FUCK have you people not figured this shit out yet oh my god. Malibu itself just HAD a wildfire in December that burned 20 structures. I don't understand how California can be this retarded.

invisibult plus+ said:
I hate climate change shilling so much. God forbid the people actually causing problems are held accountable- it’s the climate! Making it too hot for the trees! Water management doesn’t exist. Forest management doesn’t exist, either- forests are enclosed systems, just like my computers! Why would leaving debris and eucalyptus trees in the most flammable part of the country cause a fire?
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And you know what? Let's play devil's advocate and say that these fires are just 100% the result of climate change. Would that not be a good reason to heavily invest in fire prevention measures to stop disasters like this before they happen, as opposed to maintaining the status quo at best and drastically cutting land management budgets at worst? Would that not be a good reason to ensure that your water supply systems are full and strong enough to handle a wildfire? Would that not be a good reason to manage your land accordingly instead of just waiting for a disaster to happen and then blaming climate change when it does?

For a state that won't shut the fuck up about climate change, they sure don't seem to give a shit about ACTUALLY preparing for climate change.

Also while I was writing this this happened:

Toolbox said:
Yes, not to be outdone by LA, San Francisco's Moss Landing power plant presumably went into thermal runaway.
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God that's hilarious. "Zero emission", amirite?
 
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More details on the plant, I didn't hear wrong. It was considered the world's largest battery storage facility as of 2021, being housed in a structure at a decommissioned gas-turbine power plant. With a supposed capacity of 400 MW at the time. (A)

This really is a disastrously large amount of batteries cooking. An omen of what was to come:
An overheating incident, however, affected a few battery modules of the phase one storage facility in the first week of September 2021. Vistra has since then kept the entire facility offline as it investigates the cause of the incident.
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And it gets WORSE. They began to expand it to a planned 750 MW of capacity in 2022. It had been dethroned as the largest battery facility in the world and this put it back on top. (A)

Edit: ANOTHER battery malfunction event in 2022!

It's owned by Vistra Energy, based out of Texas. I would not trust this company, but also just working with such a huge amount of lithium ion is sure to be a disaster. (A)
 
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CFC-12 said:
Would that not be a good reason to heavily invest in fire prevention measures to stop disasters like this before they happen, as opposed to maintaining the status quo at best and drastically cutting land management budgets at worst?
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You seem to be assuming that [Current Year] Environmentalism is about the environment, not stripping away your rights and shoving you in a hive pod eating bugs.
You are mistaken.
 
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Toolbox said:
It's owned by Vistra Energy, based out of Texas. I would not trust this company, but also just working with such a huge amount of lithium ion is sure to be a disaster. (A)
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Imagine building a giant bomb and the government sleeps or, more accurately, literally subsidizes it.
 
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Toolbox said:
More details on the plant, I didn't hear wrong. It was considered the world's largest battery storage facility as of 2021, being housed in a structure at a decommissioned gas-turbine power plant. With a supposed capacity of 400 MW at the time. (A)

This really is a disastrously large amount of batteries cooking.
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From Wikipedia:
Screenshot_239.png


Screenshot_240.png



 
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Palisades Incident Community Meeting - 01/16/25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHkG6LXVuCA (archive.org)

Inside L.A.’s desperate battle for water as the Palisades fire exploded
Los Angeles Times (archive.ph)
By Matt Hamilton and Ian James
2025-01-17 03:30:18GMT
This private information is unavailable to guests due to policies enforced by third-parties.
More Than a Week After the Fires, Los Angeles Evacuees Remain in Limbo
The New York Times (archive.ph)
By Kellen Browning, Jesus Jiménez, and Jennifer Medina
2025-01-17 04:31:25GMT
This private information is unavailable to guests due to policies enforced by third-parties.

LA County municipal water warnings:
https://waterforla.lacounty.gov/water-alerts/ (archive.ph)
 
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AnOminous said:
Good luck putting that out. It's going to burn as long as it feels like it.
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I've heard from one report that fire crews are just standing around and letting it burn itself out. Hearing that, I can't think it's anything other than a thermal runaway, of the apparently 300MW battery present in the building. (A)

AnOminous said:
Imagine building a giant bomb and the government sleeps or, more accurately, literally subsidizes it.
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And they're using the huge battery pack to presumably store energy - from a gas plant, which is owned by PG&E, which exists on the same site. I'm getting mixed reports on whether it was actually shut down, I think Vistra just owns the battery building that's currently burning. Maybe they planned to but didn't completely follow through, but then I'm also seeing it might be offline. Even more of a waste if so.
 
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Clearly, PG&E was feeling left out.
Toolbox said:
It's owned by Vistra Energy, based out of Texas.
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Vistra owns the inactive Moss Landing natural gas plant and Moss Landing battery site. PG&E owns the Elkhorn battery site. Elkhorn is co-located inside the Moss Landing power complex.

This is either the third Moss Landing fire or the second Elkhorn fire.

e: The Elkhorn batteries are on the northwest corner of the complex and Vistra's is the southeast.
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1Tonka_Truck said:
Vistra owns the inactive Moss Landing natural gas plant and Moss Landing battery site. PG&E owns the Elkhorn battery site. Elkhorn is co-located inside the Moss Landing power complex.
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So Vistra really is just letting this go to waste, huh? Was confused seeing Moss Landing referred to for both the battery and plant. Thanks for clearing that up. PG&E's battery isn't what's burning then. This is what the last article I posted stated:
The natural gas-powered plant, owned by Vistra Energy, is the site of one of the largest lithium-battery storage facilities in the world.
Jenny Lyon, a spokesperson for Vistra, said plant staff alerted emergency responders after detecting a fire in the Moss 300-MW energy storage facility. All employees on site were safely evacuated.
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Ah, yeah, I was skimming too fast.
The power plant was originally built in 1950 and owned by Pacific Gas & Electric, which now buys the electricity stored at the site, according to the Santa Cruz Sentinel. The utility still owns another battery storage facility on the north side of the site that is powered by Tesla battery packs. The newspaper reported that the facility did not appear to be burning Thursday night.
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PG&E's pack is all Tesla cells in the Northern facility and isn't what is currently cooking. So this is the third moss landing fire, and IS Vistra Energy's fault.
 
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