A truck loaded with lithium-ion batteries overturned near the Port of Los Angeles on September 26, exploded and remained ablaze for days – disrupting traffic on highways and a bridge and closing port terminals. A local towing company, Pepe's Towing Service, captured the explosion on camera and logged the incident for days until it was time to haul away the remains.
Josh Acosta, owner of Pepe's Tow Service, uploaded a lengthy video today detailing the site of the explosion, the long wait while firefighters let the batteries burn, and the process of lifting the container full of burned batteries for transport. In the video we see what look like stacks of batteries, with liquid cooling tubes between each layer.
Image: Pepe's Towing Service
Image: Pepe's Towing Service
Image: Pepe's Towing Service
In a phone call with The edgeAccording to Acosta, the battery is a “giant, container-sized battery” that “doesn’t fall apart.” He believes it could be used in buildings to provide backup power. According to Acosta, the battery weighed 60,000 pounds.
Acosta says he doesn't remember which company owned the container that carried the battery – but in his video, the text on the side of the container is blurred anyway.
The video shows the arduous logistics for firefighters dealing with burning lithium-ion cells – often having to use thousands of gallons of water to put them out, including in electric vehicle fires. And in this case, the Los Angeles Fire Department said The edge that the fire kept burning.
Acosta told us he was called to the job by the customer who owned the overturned truck, so he captured the moment on camera. Now Pepe's Towing is transporting what's left of the container for scrap recycling.