Living near Moss Landing means we’ve gotten intimately familiar with battery fires. When those 100-foot flames lit up our night sky and we got the shelter-in-place alerts, many of us heard Tesla had short-circuited again. First responders and local reporters initially identified it as a Tesla issue, which is a reasonable conclusion given their outsized track record of fires globally and Musk’s pattern of dismissing safety concerns while attacking critics.

Latest reports suggest it might be Vistra’s facility with LG batteries, though the cause remains unknown. According to Canary Media’s latest reporting from Moss Landing, this would make it the fourth battery fire we’ve had here (two Vistra fires in 2021, one Tesla in 2022, and now this one). The story is still developing.

The cause of the fire is not known…

Different cause maybe from 2022, same burning questions about accountability and oversight remain.

The impact on our community has been significant:

• About 1,200 neighbors evacuated
• Many are agricultural workers who can’t work remotely
• Highway 1 had to be shut down
• Even the nearby Verdagy hydrogen facility was affected

The broader concerns about battery fire safety, whether in cars, energy storage, or other applications, remain very real for our community. So does the question of who actually faces consequences when these facilities fail.

Accuracy matters so as always we’re updating this post as news comes in, especially given reporting on incidents that affect our neighbors directly. Stay safe, Moss Landing.

One thing’s certain: our community keeps getting burned while questions about battery safety and corporate accountability go unanswered.