Hazardous blaze at General Motors design studio in Pasadena is extinguished; cause under investigation
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- A fire at a General Motors design studio generated one of the largest responses to a structure fire that Pasadena had seen in years.
- A firefighter was temporarily trapped and sent out a mayday call.
More than 100 firefighters and multiple hazardous materials teams battled a fire at General Motors’ design studio Wednesday night in Pasadena, authorities said.
At one point, a firefighter was trapped in the structure amid the blaze and sent out a mayday call.
The Pasadena Fire Department responded to the fire in the 600 block of Sierra Madre Villa Avenue at 5:50 p.m., according to department spokesperson Lisa Derderian. The incident was declared a four-alarm fire, signifying a major blaze that requires the mobilization of significant fire department resources.
“A total of four alarms were requested to support fire attack operations, primary search, salvage efforts, rapid intervention, establishment of a water supply, ventilation, roof operations, and medical support,” the Pasadena Fire Department stated in a report on the incident.
Preliminary reports indicated that lithium ion batteries and concept cars burned inside the building. The fire was knocked down at 7:22 p.m., and the cause was under investigation, Derderian said.
In a statement Thursday, a spokesperson for General Motors said that the fire was contained to a single concept vehicle and did not spread to other cars or the building. The facility remains closed temporarily.
How to deal with all those dangerous lithium-ion batteries in the burn zones? Sift. Brine. Crush (in two bright blue ‘sausage grinders’)
It took firefighters more than an hour to track down the source of the blaze as thick smoke engulfed the 149,000-square-foot campus. General Motors invested more than $71 million in 2021 to build the three-building facility as a new base for its Advanced Design Center.
In total, 16 fire engines, five trucks, four rescue ambulances, two hazardous materials teams, one mobile breathing unit, seven battalion chiefs, two fire chiefs, three deputy chiefs and two arson investigators were deployed to the incident.
Derderian said it was one of the largest responses to a structure fire the city has seen in many years.
Hazmat crews were called in to assist due to reports of lithium ion batteries burning. Crews cannot use water to extinguish lithium ion battery fires, as doing so can cause a destabilizing chemical reaction, leading more batteries to catch fire or explode.
“Firefighters on scene have trained in scenarios like this, but it does put a different twist on extinguishing fires,” Derderian said.
Large lithium ion battery fires release toxic gases such as hydrogen fluoride and can take several hours or even days to render safe.
There was a mayday call when a firefighter became trapped inside the fire-engulfed building Wednesday evening. But fire crews were able to locate him and pull him out of the structure without injuries.
“He did not wish to be transported [to a hospital], but it was a very scary few minutes there until they determined that he was OK,” Derderian said.
It could take several days to determine the cause of the fire due to the “complex nature of the building and the size,” she said.
“It’s a very large facility on the east end of town,” she added.
General Motors thanked fire departments for their swift action in extinguishing the fire, the spokesperson said, and was fully cooperating in the ongoing investigation.
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