A battery container has caught fire again at Suncycle, a solar energy and storage service company in the German state of Thuringia. The fire marks the third time in two months that firefighters have been called to the scene for a lithium battery fire on Sunday, August 11. The police again suspect that a technical defect is the cause of the fires.
The fire brigade present said via its Facebook page that fumes and smoke slightly injured an employee. A report by German news agency dpa said the injured worker used a forklift to drive the burning storage unit out of the room where the battery container was stored to prevent the flames from spreading. According to the fire brigade, the damage is estimated at 30,000 euros.
Due to the heavy smoke, residents were warned to keep windows and doors closed, which remained closed until Monday.
This is the third fire involving a battery storage unit stored at Suncycle since June 7. The first time, the damage was estimated at approximately 700,000 eurosand similar toxic air warnings were also issued to residents.
The second fire involved a battery container that went up in flames on June 30. The fire brigade said it burned down in a controlled manner. The water and burning storage unit produced toxic hydrofluoric acid during the initial firefighting. The fire brigade therefore had to drain the fire extinguishing water at great expense and decided to allow the subsequent fire to burn out in a controlled manner. No information has been given on the extent of the damage caused by the second fire and details on the third fire are not expected until later.
Questions from pv magazine Germany to Suncycle about this incident and the previous incidents remained unanswered at the time of publication.
