Battery Storage Fire in Bautzen Forces Two Rounds of Evacuations

Emergency crews in Bautzen, Germany, are still working a fire that started July 21 at a battery storage site rated 1.5 MW in the city's central area. Twenty-five people were moved out of the surrounding blocks that afternoon, and 17 more residents were taken out overnight. No one has been hurt.

A city spokesperson described the installation as a lithium battery setup distributed across four shipping containers, adding to 1.5 MW in total.

Water is going onto the containers at 5,000 liters per minute, a rate firefighters set to hold down the risk of thermal escalation or an explosion.

Crews have taken air quality readings at the scene, and nothing hazardous has turned up in the fumes so far, ESS News reported.

What started the fire remains unknown, and officials have been in touch with the owner of the facility, according to pv magazine.

The second evacuation, covering 17 residents, came after the initial afternoon clearance of 25 people. Both rounds ended without casualties.

The fire began in the central part of Bautzen rather than on an isolated industrial plot. That location shaped the response: the containers hold 1.5 MW of lithium cells inside a residential-adjacent block.

Continuous cooling at 5,000 liters per minute has been the core of the operation rather than direct extinguishment. Air measurements have run alongside it.

Investigators have not established a cause. The owner has been contacted, pv magazine reported.