Authorities are still trying to find out the cause of a Tesla battery fire in central Queensland. The blaze broke out at a 60-million-dollar large-scale battery storage site.
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00:00 A lithium Tesla battery unit ablaze, burning at a brand new facility near Ockhampton.
00:08 "There was quite a bit of smoke, but because of the electricity involved they adopted a
00:14 defensive approach to that incident."
00:15 Meaning the fire couldn't be extinguished.
00:18 Fire crews initially weren't able to get inside and had to cut the fence.
00:24 Mechanic Dave Bailey was driving past when he spotted the flames, concerned about toxic
00:28 smoke.
00:29 "The fire was pretty intense and the bangs that you'd hear every now and then.
00:35 Believe it or not the flames were all different colours, but yeah a fair bit of smoke and
00:39 obviously heat would have been coming off it."
00:41 A close neighbour learnt about the fire via social media this morning.
00:45 "We were having breakfast in the awning there this morning.
00:48 It was like a plastic smell, that bit drifting around."
00:53 "We have done gas monitoring and air sampling in and around Bouldercoom, so there is no
00:59 worries for members of the public in terms of that toxic gas issue."
01:03 No one was on site at the time of the incident.
01:06 GenX Power, which owns the project, says it will work with Tesla to investigate the cause
01:11 of the fire.
01:12 The 40 battery facility has been disconnected from the grid and there's no damage to the
01:17 substation next door.
01:20 Experts say this type of fire is rare, but it's an evolving area.
01:24 "I think what we'll have is initially we get more and more lithium ion batteries coming
01:28 online.
01:29 We will get more of these incidents occurring, but we'll get more regulation in place and
01:34 so then over time they will hopefully decrease."
01:36 The fire was contained to a single battery by this morning.
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