Three days after a battery fire broke out at the Moss Landing Power Plant, owner/operator Vistra reports the fire is contained and just smoldering with no new flames.
Caltrans reopened Highway 1 in Moss Landing effective at 5pm Sunday, Jan. 19.
(Drivers are encouraged to use caution in the area as emergency vehicles are still onsite.)
The fire began at about 3pm on Thursday, Jan. 16 in the 300-megawatt storage unit, known as Moss 300. The burned facility—as well as Vistra's 100-megawatt site and 350-megawatt site, plus the natural gas plant—all currently remain offline. (Elected officials have called on the company to keep the entire plant offline until the cause of the fire is understood and Vistra can provide assurances a similar incident will not happen in the future.)
Evacuation orders were lifted on Friday, about 24 hours after they were issued, based on initial air quality monitoring data showing no immediate risk to health.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has nine monitoring locations for the incident, looking for particulate matter and hydrofluoric acid (HF) at the following locations: two in the Vistra plant; four locations around the perimeter, one in each direction; three in neighboring communities (Pajaro, Prunedale and Castroville).
Vistra has created an incident response website with updates at mosslandingresponse.com. The County of Monterey is operating an incident information phone line at 831-769-8700.