Tesla Fremont manufacturing unit suffers one other fireplace, investigation underway
An aerial view of the Tesla Fremont Manufacturing unit on April 24, 2024 in Fremont, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Pictures
A fireplace broke out at Tesla‘s automobile meeting plant in Fremont, California on Monday afternoon, in keeping with a press release from the Fremont Hearth Division, posted on social network X.
No accidents had been reported amongst workers and fireplace fighters current on the scene, the division mentioned.
An undisclosed variety of fireplace fighters had responded to the fireplace, which broke out earlier than 5:00 p.m., on the Tesla facility at 45500 Fremont Boulevard. The incident was described as a two-alarm, business construction fireplace in a two-story constructing.
The hearth apparently originated in an oven utilized in automobile manufacturing operations, the division mentioned, including that cause of the fire was “underneath investigation” as of Monday night.
The hearth was “knocked down” in a matter of hours, the division mentioned, and the fire-fighting crew had been launched from the scene as of round 8 p.m.
The Fremont manufacturing unit is Tesla’s first mass EV manufacturing facility. It was first to provide the corporate’s standard Mannequin 3 sedans, and Mannequin Y crossover utility autos, in addition to its higher-end Mannequin S sedan and Mannequin X, an SUV with falcon wing doorways.
On Could 17, 2024 Tesla celebrated a milestone for its Fremont manufacturing unit together with their battery manufacturing unit outdoors of Reno, Nevada, saying that they had surpassed manufacturing of three million autos.
Monday’s fireplace adopted sweeping layoffs on the Elon Musk-led automaker. Tesla recently cut one other 601 jobs in California, together with 164 on the Fremont manufacturing unit.
Amongst jobs reduce in Fremont on this newest wave of the layoffs had been two administrators of Environmental Well being and Security (EHS), and a myriad of others concerned in EHS, safety, tools upkeep and emergency providers, in keeping with filings by the corporate with the California Employment Improvement Division.
Tesla’s Fremont manufacturing unit has a historical past of fires. For instance, a number of fireplace incidents occurred on the manufacturing unit from 2014 to 2018, together with a mixture of indoor and outside fires in 2018 alone, with extra nonetheless in 2019 and 2021.
Fires on the Fremont manufacturing unit prior to now have sometimes necessitated a pause in manufacturing.
Tesla didn’t reply to a request for additional info on Monday night.
Native environmental regulators, the Bay Space Air High quality Administration District (BAAMQD), just lately accused Tesla of permitting “unabated emissions” on the Fremont plant, and mentioned that poisonous air air pollution ought to have been prevented.
The BAAMQD is now in search of an abatement order that will pressure Tesla to implement adjustments to its manufacturing unit operations to stop additional air pollution.
On Monday night time, the BAAMQD informed CNBC by way of e-mail that it was “conscious of the fireplace and assessing” the state of affairs in Alameda County.