From the Mayor’s Office – A Series of Events

From the Mayor’s Office – July 3, 2023

A Series of Events

The Fourth of July, the birthday of our country, fills us with pride and the memories of celebration – barbecues, fireworks, and fun! This has been an odd summer leading to this holiday. Air quality from the Canadian forest fires have hampered our outdoor activities and the weather hardly perfect, rainy, chilly, humid. We live in a state of, “What next?” “When will the other shoe drop.” A sense of ease and security seem fleeting.

Throughout last week emergency services were dealing with a major event. There was notification of a fire at a Battery Storage Unit located at the Warwick School District’s Bus Garage. The battery unit allows energy storage that can be used during periods of high energy usage in lieu of building new transformers around the area. The units use lithium- ion batteries and recent events about battery fires from scooters and electric bikes have filled the news. The issue with this type of fire is that it cannot be put out by water and there are no viable suppressants so the fire must burn off. The burning results in air quality issues with a host of chemicals released into the air. The site was secured immediately by the Warwick Police, Warwick Fire Department, and the Orange County Haz Mat team. Air quality monitoring began immediately. Luckily the plume of smoke remained high, and the air was still. A CodeRed alert went out asking people to remain indoors with windows closed. If you have not signed up for the Town’s Alert notification system, please take a moment to do so, this is an important tool for public safety. You can sign up for CodeRed alert notifications by clicking on the following link: https://public.coderedweb.com/CNE/en-US/BFFFE80C4903

Local officials, stakeholders, and emergency service heads began a series of briefings with the unit owner Convergent Energy and unit manufacturer, Powin. These occurred twice a day keeping all informed as to daily site conditions. Now that the fire has burned out and the temperatures are ambient a major investigation has begun. Two separate firms are doing this work, one hired by Convergent and Palin, the other hired by the School District.

There is another Storage Unit site which is behind the former Georgia Pacific Plant on South Street Extension. This suffered damage during the heavy rains on Monday evening. The unit did not catch fire and was deactivated. The batteries did give off a small amount of fumes the following Thursday which set up a higher level of safety protocol. Although it was reported as an active fire, that was not the case. The damaged batteries were isolated from the unit and have been packaged and are being removed from the site. This site too will be part of a thorough investigation.

Many wonder how and when did these units get installed? This was an Orange and Rockland initiative that began in 2020. The site on Church St Ext went through the Planning Board process which included engineer review, planning board scrutiny and a public hearing. The School District unit was thoroughly vetted by School District engineers and State Board of Education review. The Unit is manufactured by Powin Industries, owned by Convergent Energy, and the Village site is leased on private land.

Both units had not been fully commissioned at the time of the damage and fire. Both units are deactivated.

These events leave everyone with questions about stability and safety. Luckily no one was hurt throughout the duration. I want to thank all of our Emergency Services who were tireless. Special thanks to Chief Rader and his investigative team who maintained complete control of both sites as well as the department who maintained site security. As the investigation unfolds and we are given a report we will share this information with the public.

The next Village Board meeting will take place on Monday, July 3, 2023, at 7:30 p.m. at Village Hall located at 77 Main Street.