More than 100 firefighters battling dangerous blaze at General Motors complex in Pasadena

More than 100 firefighters and a hazardous materials team were fighting a fire involving lithium-ion batteries and prototype vehicles at General Motors’ design studio in Pasadena on Wednesday night, authorities said.

At one point, a firefighter was trapped in a violent blaze and sent out a distress call.

The Pasadena Fire Department responded to the fire in the 600 block of Sierra Madre Villa Avenue at 5:50 p.m., Pasadena Fire Department spokesperson Lisa Derderian said. Due to the size of the building and the hazardous materials involved, the incident was declared a Category Four fire, meaning a catastrophic fire that would require the mobilization of significant fire department resources.

“This is one of the largest structure fires in Pasadena in many years,” Derderian said.

Initial reports suggested lithium-ion batteries and a concept car were burning inside the building; however, the incident remained active Wednesday night and the cause of the fire was under investigation, she said. Some of the burned cars appeared to be gasoline-powered vehicles.

Thick smoke engulfed the 149,000-square-foot campus, and it took firefighters more than an hour to find the source of the fire. General Motors invested more than $71 million in 2021 to construct the three-building facility as the new home for its Advanced Design Center.

Fighting the blaze was challenging because crews were unable to extinguish the lithium-ion battery fire with water. Doing so could cause unstable chemical reactions that could cause more batteries to catch fire or explode.

“Firefighters on scene have been trained for similar scenarios, but this does have a different impact on fighting the fire,” Derderian said.

A large lithium-ion battery fire can take hours or even days to restore to safety.

The fire destroyed lithium-ion batteries and concept cars at the General Motors plant, officials said.

(Member Chiu Wing-chiu/The Times)

When one battery overheats, it sets off a chain reaction in which nearby batteries also overheat. This reaction releases heat and toxic gases and can continue inside the battery pack long after the visible flames are extinguished.

A firefighter sent out a distress call Wednesday night while trapped inside a building engulfed in flames. But firefighters found him and pulled him from the building uninjured.

“He didn’t want to be transported [to a hospital]but it was a very scary few minutes before they made sure he was okay,” Derderian said.

She said fire crews were searching the entire campus to make sure no one else was trapped inside. Crews will remain on site overnight to continue processing hazardous materials involved in the fire.