Los Angeles Fires Expose EV Battery Hazards in Disaster Cleanup

Mark Largest Lithium-Ion Recovery Operation in History

Federal cleanup crews navigate unprecedented safety challenges as electric vehicle batteries become "ticking time bombs" in wildfire aftermath

The Los Angeles wildfires that devastated Pacific Palisades and Altadena have created what EPA officials describe as "the largest lithium-ion battery pickup and cleanup that's ever happened in the history of the world," highlighting emerging challenges as electric vehicles become increasingly common in disaster-prone areas.

The Palisades and Eaton fires aftermath is estimated to require the "largest lithium-ion battery pickup, cleanup, that's ever happened in the history of the world," EPA incident commander Steve Calanog reportedly told local KNBC. The scale of the operation reflects both the growing prevalence of electric vehicles in Los Angeles County and the complex safety protocols required to handle damaged lithium-ion batteries.

Record-Breaking EV Cleanup Operation

The EPA searched and cleared more than 9,000 properties and disposed of more than 1,000 lithium-ion batteries. The effort required more than 1,500 people, working in nearly 50 teams, many of whom cleared properties by hand, searching for substances including bleach, paint, weed killer, batteries, propane tanks, and asbestos. The operation was completed in under 30 days, marking a new speed record for post-disaster hazardous materials removal.

The sheer volume of electric vehicles in the affected areas contributed to the unprecedented scale. According to the California Energy Commission, more than 99,000 zero-emission vehicles were sold in Los Angeles County in 2024 alone, including battery electric, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell electric vehicles. There are more than 41,000 electric vehicles registered just in the Pasadena area, one of the places hardest hit by the fires, said Ingrid Malmgren, senior policy director with the electric vehicle advocacy group Plug In America.

Critical Safety Challenges

Lithium-ion batteries pose unique hazards during disaster cleanup operations. The EPA warned that batteries should be considered "extremely dangerous," even if they are believed to be intact, and "can spontaneously re-ignite, explode, and emit toxic gases and particulates even after the fire is out."

The batteries, used in electric vehicles, can explode or ignite if damaged or overheated. Los Angeles City Fire Captain Adam VanGerpen emphasized the unprecedented nature of the challenge: "We don't know the long-term effects of all this exposure, and we haven't seen this on this large of a scale and this many electric vehicles. This is an unprecedented amount of electric vehicles with lithium-ion batteries in there."

The danger extends beyond immediate fire risk. Authorities are warning that residual heat poses danger for days, weeks and even months after the initial fires, potentially causing lithium-ion batteries to spontaneously combust.

Specialized Removal Procedures

EPA crews follow strict protocols developed after the 2023 Maui wildfire. The EPA team must wear flame-resistant clothing underneath disposable protective suits. Masks cover their faces, and either come with insertable cartridges to filter out chemicals or attach to air tanks. The crew blocks off the area where it's working and keeps water on site in case flames erupt.

Battery cells that could still ignite are wrapped in fire blankets and batteries that still have charge are de-energized in a brine solution. To do that, Myers said, the EPA will likely use a process developed after the Maui wildfire in 2023, which involves submerging the batteries in a solution of saltwater and baking soda.

Broader Implications for Disaster Management

The Los Angeles fires represent a growing challenge as extreme weather events intersect with the clean energy transition. The problem extends beyond wildfires to other natural disasters, particularly those involving saltwater exposure.

Hurricane-Related EV Fires

Recent hurricanes have revealed similar hazards. Hurricane Ian in 2022 caused various degrees of damage to between 3,000 and 5,000 EVs in Florida, with 600 vehicles deemed a total loss, and 36 catching on fire, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Eleven of those fires involved electric cars after Hurricane Helene, with at least 64 lithium battery fires after Hurricane Helene. EVs accounted for 17 of those but the rest were devices like scooters, hoverboards and golf carts.

Saltwater Creates Unique Risks

Saltwater conducts electricity, and if it penetrates the lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles and other devices, it can cause short circuits, generating heat and potentially igniting a fire. These fires do seem to be linked specifically to saltwater because salt can conduct electricity. Similar problems haven't been reported after freshwater flooding in California that was driven by heavy rains early this year.

Rapid corrosion reactions within the battery pack produce hydrogen and oxygen, corroding away materials from metallic terminals on the positive side of the battery and depositing them onto the negative side. Even after the water drains away, these deposited materials can form solid shorting bridges that remain inside the battery pack, causing a delayed thermal runaway. A fire can start days after the battery is flooded.

Fire Suppression Challenges

EV battery fires present unique challenges for first responders. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said battery fires can happen weeks after electric cars were submerged in salt water and the fire can take hours and anywhere from 3,000 to 8,000 gallons of water to put out.

"We know that the saltwater from storm surge can compromise these batteries, causing fires which cannot be easily suppressed. The best fire teams can do is keep water on the battery until the fuel burns out," Patronis previously stated.

Federal Response and Policy Implications

President Trump's executive order expedited the federal response. "According to the EPA incident commander, there will be upward of 1,000 people working on Phase 1 cleanup by this weekend," the statement continued. "This work, conducted at no cost to residents, is a mandatory process to ensure the safety of residents and the workers who will — after the hazardous material is gone — conduct the Phase 2 debris removal in the burn footprints, and to prevent these materials from being released into the environment."

"Under President Trump's leadership, EPA is doing everything within our power to expedite cleanup of hazardous debris and to help provide Californians safer access to their property as soon as possible," EPA Acting Deputy Administrator Chad McIntosh said in a statement.

Industry and Safety Perspectives

Despite the challenges, experts emphasize that electric vehicles remain safe under normal circumstances. "Over the course of history, we've had introductions of new technologies that have had extremely high fire risk and fossil fuel-based internal combustion engines is certainly one of them," Murray said. "In fact, firefighters in Santa Barbara County would say that many of our ignitions are started from [gas] cars due to the heat from catalytic converter tailpipe fumes."

According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration research, also cited by the AP, after Hurricane Ian flooded 3,000-5,000 electric vehicles. Six hundred were declared total losses and 36 of those caught fire. That means roughly one-tenth of 1% of flooded EVs overall caught fire, but about 6% of those that were totaled did ignite.

Battery Technology Improvements

The industry continues to develop safer battery technologies. "Not all batteries are the same," Alldredge said. "Not all lithium batteries propagate fire. You can't vilify an entire industry based on a few chemistries." He pointed to lithium iron phosphate batteries, or LFP batteries, which tend to be heavier, but are safer and ideal for home battery systems.

Earthquake and Building Collapse Risks

The challenges posed by lithium-ion batteries extend beyond fire and flood disasters to include earthquakes and structural failures. As electric vehicle adoption increases, aging infrastructure faces new stresses that could exacerbate existing vulnerabilities.

Structural Concerns in Parking Garages

Recent parking garage collapses have raised concerns about aging infrastructure's ability to handle heavier modern vehicles, particularly EVs. In April 2023, a parking garage building partially collapsed in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City, when its second floor partially collapsed below onto the first. The 1920s-era building had a history of building violations and was storing dozens of vehicles when it failed.

An electric GMC Hummer weighs 9,000 pounds, and its battery pack — roughly 2,900 pounds — is the weight of a typical Honda Civic. This additional weight creates multiple concerns for structural engineers. Heavier cars mean more severe collisions, which might mean electric vehicles are more likely to cause structural damage if they bump into the walls of a garage.

Building Code Updates and Infrastructure Adaptation

In June 2023, the U.K.'s Institution of Structural Engineers issued revised advice, specifying to increase the uniformly distributed load from 2.5kN/m2 to 3kN/m2, a 20% increase to account for heavier modern vehicles including EVs.

"If one pickup is significantly overloaded and that car park is weak, that's a potential disaster waiting to happen," Whapples said. The cumulative load of these vehicles in parking garages could present challenges in certain circumstances, particularly in older structures not designed for such weights.

Earthquake Vulnerabilities

Earthquakes present unique challenges when combined with EV battery storage and aging infrastructure. The 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami that triggered the Fukushima nuclear disaster demonstrated how cascading infrastructure failures can compound disaster impacts. The magnitude-9.0 earthquake struck at 2:46 pm, with the epicentre located some 80 miles east of the city of Sendai. In total, approximately 122,000 buildings were completely destroyed, about 283,000 suffered severe damage, and another approximately 748,000 were partially damaged.

Homes that are not property braced and bolted to their foundations can literally collapse. Items inside a house, such as cabinet doors and entry doors can wildly swing open, glass doors and windows can shatter, pipes can burst, heavy furniture can topple. When EVs with large battery packs are stored in vulnerable structures during seismic events, the combination of structural failure and potential battery damage creates compound risks.

Cascading Infrastructure Failures

Battery-powered vehicles account for a small share of car fires, but controlling EV fires is difficult. Typically, an EV fire burns at roughly 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 Celsius), while a gasoline-powered vehicle on fire burns at 1,500 F (815 C). In earthquake-damaged buildings where structural integrity is already compromised, the risk of thermal runaway events could trigger secondary disasters.

Israeli fire officials have also warned of the structural risk. In an interview with Calcalist, they said a fire in a residential parking garage involving EVs could cause a building to collapse. This concern becomes particularly acute in seismically active regions where buildings may already be compromised by ground shaking.

Looking Forward

The Los Angeles fires serve as a wake-up call for disaster preparedness in an increasingly electrified society. From a broader perspective, all levels of government agencies need to view the Los Angeles fires as a test case for rebuilding more efficiently in the face of natural disasters. As the intensity of hurricanes, floods, fires, and seismic events increases, we need to develop better procedures and find ways to shorten the recovery time.

The cleanup operation, while successful, highlights the need for improved protocols as electric vehicle adoption accelerates. "We're going to encounter a lot more than we did in Lahaina," Guria said, referring to the 2023 Maui fires. This challenge extends beyond fire-specific scenarios to encompass the full spectrum of natural disasters and infrastructure vulnerabilities in an electrified future.

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