BESSEMER CITY, N.C. — A massive fire that broke out at a lithium plant in Bessemer City late Monday night is under investigation, Gaston County officials said.
Multiple agencies responded to a fire at the Livent Corporation lithium facility along Bessemer City-Kings Mountain Highway just before 1:20 a.m. on June 26. No one was hurt during the fire and all workers are accounted for, according to Gaston County Communications.
According to the company's website, its Bessemer City location is its "largest and most diverse manufacturing facility," producing "lithium hydroxide, butyllithium, specialty organics, high purity lithium metal and several other inorganic products."
Highway 161 was closed from JE Herndon Access Road to 14th Street while crews worked to extinguish the fire and investigate what caused it.
Neighbors who live near the plant were told to stay indoors but weren't required to evacuate.
"I kind of smelled it this morning but it had already died down," Nelly Floyd, who lives directly across the plant, said. "I tried to reassure my sister that we were OK."
Floyd has questions about what happened.
"My question right now is what caused that last night?" she asked. "I want to know what really happened out there. I knew I was safe because I trust God to take care of me, my question is did they do something wrong?"
At one point, the smoke could be smelled from nearly a mile away from the plant.
The plant produces multiple lithium products. Lithium is a chemical element that is highly flammable and can be toxic.
"There was not anything hazardous in the smoke that would have been a cause for us to do anything in terms of doing protective measures for residents," Adam Gaub, Gaston County's Communications Director, said.
Officials said all burned lithium material was contained at the site.
The air quality and groundwater were determined safe by the Gaston County Emergency Management Department.
"We had hazmat units from Gastonia Fire and from Charlotte Fire that independently monitored the and sampled the air quality," Gaub said.
Sarav Arunachalam, a research and adjunct professor at UNC-Chapel Hill's Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, said long-term testing is ideal.
"You want to put some monitors out there at different distances from the facility and continue monitoring at least for a few days to see that there's nothing out there," Arunachalam said.
Officials still haven't announced what caused the fire at this time.
The State Bureau of Investigation (SBII) and The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) are also investigating the fire.
"They're working to now investigate kind of what happens. We're expecting that that's going to take a few days just because of how complex this is," Gaub said.
There were concerns from other residents about the access to information regarding the fire and officials' directions to shelter in place.
Bessemer City officials told WCNC Charlotte that residents who opted into a voluntary alert system called Nixle received information about the fire directly to their phones.
The Nixle Communication System allows the city to notify residents via phone, text, and email for things like events, downtown news, crime, utility emergencies, severe weather, and news from City Council.
If a mandatory evacuation or a similar emergency that required immediate communication were to happen all residents would have been alerted even if they weren't opted into Nixle.
City officials urge all residents to sign up for the system to be alerted.
Officials have not shared any timeline for when they might release a report detailing how the fire started.
Lithium-related firefighting
According to a chemical profile from NOAA, lithium is highly flammable and reacts with most extinguishing agents, like water and carbon dioxide. The guide said reactions with water can create "caustic lithium hydroxide and hydrogen gas."
In lithium-ion battery form, the material can be just as concerning, firefighters said.
Mooresville Fire-Rescue recently held a special training for area first responders due to the prevalence of these rechargeable batteries, found in devices like electric vehicles, scooters, toothbrushes, cellphones and laptops, and the extra care they require with fire safety.
The agency said these types of batteries can still react underwater and also pose a hazmat situation with vapors in the air. Additionally, they can unexpectedly re-ignite, hours and even days after visible fire is out.
“When batteries catch fire, they do not dissipate energy, especially if not all the batteries are on fire," said Captain Wesley Harrington, with Mooresville Fire-Rescue. "This can lead to what’s called thermal runaway -- when overheated batteries quickly release stored energy. This causes a vapor cloud, a popping sound, then flames.”
"We’ve seen cases across the country where electric vehicles catch on fire and those flames quickly spread to nearby cars or a person’s house,” Harrington said.
Responsible use of lithium-ion batteries includes disposal at designated hazardous materials sites, not in the trash or recycling bin, avoiding overcharging a battery, and avoiding charging on a bed or under a pillow. Finally, people should only use devices tested by a nationally recognized lab, such as Underwriters Laboratories (UL).
Contact Shamarria Morrison at smorrison@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Contact Vanessa Ruffes at vruffes@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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