[waitwhatwhoa]

This was in 2021; it appears the fire was extinguished by July 11 [1], investigated by Vice later that year [2], and seems to still be being cleaned up by US EPA [3].

1. https://www.ehs.com/2021/07/morris-lithium-battery-fire-high...

2. https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7vj73/everyone-thought-the-...

3. https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-resumes-cleanup-hazardo...

[londons_explore]

What chemicals are in lithium batteries that are toxic?

I was under the impression that while lithium batteries were dangerous due to explosion/flame risk, the actual ingredients weren't particularly toxic?

[bri3d]

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-09784-z

Many batteries have LiPF6 electrolytes, so HF is the big one when they combust.

And of course the most famous and common battery chemistry is still LiCo - so you've got Lithium salts and Cobalt, which you don't love to see get in ground water.

They're not too bad when they don't burn, but once they've burned, all bets are off - there are a lot of nasty byproducts.

[lm28469]

It doesn't take much for something to be toxic to soil, wildlife, &c.

> Lithium batteries contain potentially toxic materials including metals, such as copper, nickel, and lead, and organic chemicals, such as toxic and flammable electrolytes containing LiClO4, LiBF4, and LiPF6.

Also, from the article:

> an estimated 180,000 to 200,000 pounds of lithium ion batteries stored in the warehouse caught fire,

Almost anything human made burning at that scale will be toxic to some degree, lithium batteries aren't made of flower petals and lavender essential oil. Have you ever had a battery fire in your house ? It's nasty as fuck, even from a single small phone battery

[Scoundreller]

You don’t want to breathe in cement dust.

[natch]

Oxidization changes the multiple chemicals into different chemicals so the question would have to be what are those resulting chemicals not in the batteries, but after oxidization. Also, you have the other stuff being stored in the warehouse burning at the same time, and firefighters dumping on who knows what else beyond what was mentioned, and how all those chemicals react with each other with heat to form even more chemicals. A lot going on in this story.

[steviedotboston]

Was the owner of the building ever held liable for all of this damage?

[hef19898]

In case it was a poper storage facility, and the fire wasn't caused intentionally or by gross negligence, insurance covers it (speaking about Europe, no idea those kind of insurance works in the US). One of the reasosn why hazardous goods storage, especially for Li-batteries, is so hard to come by and expensive.