RobotRisk › LG Energy Solution › 19 Apr 2019
APS McMicken (Surprise, AZ) battery explosion injures four firefighters
S4 · 19 Apr 2019 · LG Energy Solution · Surprise, AZ, USA
Record
| Company | LG Energy Solution |
| Industry | Energy storage |
| Type(s) | fire |
| Date | 19 Apr 2019 (day precision) |
| Time of day | 20:00 MST |
| Location | Surprise, AZ, USA · APS McMicken battery storage facility |
| Severity | (serious injury, total loss, or grounding) |
| Scale | 1 site, 4 firefighters injured |
| Confidence | high |
| Verified flag | Yes - independently re-checked against the cited source |
Summary
A lithium-ion battery rack using LG Chem (LG Energy Solution) cells at the Fluence-assembled McMicken 2MW/2MWh BESS in Surprise, AZ entered thermal runaway; when firefighters opened the container door, accumulated gas ignited, severely injuring four firefighters (broken bones, internal bleeding, brain injuries, burns), two of whom never returned to work.
Primary source
Publisher: IEEE Spectrum · Retrieved: 2026-09-16
Supporting source rows (1)
| Date | Supporting source row | Publisher | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 Apr 2019 | APS McMicken (Surprise, AZ) battery explosion injures four firefighters | IEEE Spectrum | IEEE Spectrum |
LG Energy Solution other incidents timeline
Energy storage context
fire context
LG Energy Solution industry position
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Other LG Energy Solution entries
- 27 Jul 2025 - Worker killed in accident at LG Energy Solution plant in Holland, Michigan
- 16 Jan 2025 - Moss Landing 300MW BESS fire (Vistra) destroys facility using LG Energy Solution cells
- ~Oct 2019 - South Korea ESS fires linked predominantly to LG Chem/LG Energy Solution battery cells
- not documented - LG Energy Solution recalls home/ESS batteries after thermal events, one injury
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