Big Battery Boom Hits Another Roadblock: Fire-Fearing Cities

The new era of big batteries has already drawn scrutiny after fiery electric-car crashes across America and Europe. Now, U.S. city planners are worried about the same risk of hard-to-control blazes as these power-storage units make their way into basements and onto rooftops.

“You can have these things go on fire, and then hours or days later, they can reignite,” presenting a new challenge for first responders, said Paul Rogers, who led New York City’s effort to establish battery safety standards until he retired as a lieutenant with the fire department earlier this year. Firefighters -- “if they act inappropriately -- they could get killed,” he said.