Warehouse battery explosion causes 7-hour fire and injures 15｜Taiwan News

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At around 5 on Monday morning, a fire broke out from a lithium battery warehouse in Kaohisung’s Linhai Industrial Park. The warehouse belongs to Molie Quantum Energy Corporation, which mainly makes lithium batteries for electric vehicles. The explosion occurred while semi-finished batteries were being charged for the first time. Fifteen were injured from the incident, including 12 workers at the warehouse who fell while escaping and three firefighters who got burned from explosions. The fire lasted seven hours before it went out.

The dashcam on a fire truck recorded this footage showing billows of thick smoke from the factory. Then, an explosion.

Another also captured the explosion as it took place. Officers from the nearby Siaogang Police Station were also present. They rushed to escape, but one officer fell. He then curled up to cover his face and torso, before the smoke enveloped him.

The warehouse is located in Kaohsiung’s Linhai Industrial Park, in Siaogang District and belongs to Molie Quantum Energy Corporation. Hundreds of night shift workers scurried out when the fire occurred at 5 in the morning. Twelve were left injured when they tripped while escaping.

Night shift staff
We helped each other out and held one another while escaping. I have some grazes and bruises. There was a small explosion inside there.

The company mainly manufactures lithium batteries for electric vehicles. To put out the fire, the city’s Fire Bureau sent out 46 fire trucks and almost 100 firefighters to the scene. Three firefighters went inside just as an explosion was about to occur. They got slight burns from the explosion and were sent to ER. After that, no other firefighters were sent inside the factory premises and water wasn’t being sprayed at the flames. The firefighters stayed on the sidelines on alert and deployed robots instead to extinguish the fire inside.

Wang Chih-ping
Kaohsiung City Fire Bureau
Due to the chemical properties of lithium batteries, there are chain reactions that keep occurring. So once you put out a flame it will keep reigniting. That’s also the trickiest part. Basically you use water to cool it down, and after the thermal energy is completely exhausted, the flame will then be completely extinguished for good.

Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai also rushed to inspect the scene. He put on a filtering N95 mask before going inside the premises. When he returned, he brought with him a burned lithium battery.

Chen Chi-mai
Kaohsiung Mayor
It’s a battery that looks like this. There are a few scattered on the ground. They’re the source of the fire.

According to the company, the fire started at a warehouse for semi-finished lithium batteries. It added that the batteries were being charged for the first time, and they did not expect the explosion to happen. Fortunately, of the 15 injured due to the incident, 14 had already been discharged from the hospital. The only one left is a worker for the company’s contractor, who’s undergoing in-patient treatment for facial fractures.

The fire was only put out after seven hours. It’s the first time for a large-scale lithium battery fire to ever happen in Kaohsiung. The mayor has also issued an order to the company to halt all operations at the site of the incident and vowed to impose the strictest penalties.

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