People who live in the vicinity of the Vistra battery storage facility at the Moss Landing power plant were on edge again Tuesday when they were told to stay indoors with their windows closed after smoke was seen coming from the property.
The alert was a grim reminder of the fire that broke out on Jan. 16 at the Vistra battery storage facility there. It burned for three days and led to evacuations and the closure of Highway 1.
A second warning came out just after 10pm Tuesday, advising people to stay indoors and keep their windows closed.
“North County Fire is on scene investigating what appears to be smoke coming from the previously burned area within the Vistra Moss Landing Lithium-Ion Battery facility,” the warning, which was delivered via mobile phone, read. “Public safety officials are monitoring the situation and community air monitoring is ongoing. For updates visit: alertmry.org.”
Meanwhile, dozens of large shipping containers have appeared at the site and workers could be seen climbing in and out of large moving trucks near the burn site.
Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church wrote in an email that Vistra needs permits from both the county and California Coastal Commission for demolition before anything can be moved.
Church said that the trucks are bringing equipment in for staging for the time when the permits are granted. Nothing is being removed offsite from the burned area, he said.
He added that there is an unstable wall that needs to be handled before anything can be done.
“I do not know if they have applied for permits yet or are still in a pre-application phase,” Church added. “Regardless, it will be sometime before they are able to move onto site and do cleanup. It will take months to clean up. In San Diego, the Otay-Mesa fire happened last May; they are still cleaning up.”
