ithium-ion battery “farms” – large battery energy storage systems, or BESS – are being promoted as key tools for a cleaner grid. But across the country, fire experts and environmental agencies warn that when these facilities are placed next to homes, they can pose serious risks for nearby residents.
Lithium-ion batteries can enter “thermal runaway,” a chain reaction in which a failing cell rapidly overheats, ignites and spreads fire to neighboring cells. Federal fire guidance notes that these batteries contain volatile electrolytes that can release flammable gases and are extremely difficult to extinguish once burning.U.S. Fire Administration+1 Fire temperatures can reach around 1,000°F, and toxic gases such as hydrogen fluoride and hydrogen chloride may be released into surrounding neighborhoods, creating both acute and long-term health concerns.hetiservices.com+1 The EPA has warned that BESS incidents pose unique challenges for host communities because fires can reignite, produce hazardous emissions and require specialized cleanup.US EPA
While there have not yet been recorded BESS fires in New York City, incidents elsewhere have fueled fears. In 2023, New York State saw multiple BESS fires in Warwick, Jefferson County and East Hampton.QNS And in January 2025, a major fire at a Moss Landing, California lithium-battery plant burned for days and forced roughly 1,500 residents to evacuate due to toxic smoke.AP News
These broader concerns feel very close to home in Southeast Queens, where NineDot Energy plans a battery storage facility at 179-21 Linden Boulevard, near 179th/180th Street in St. Albans. Public testimony to state regulators describes the proposed site as wedged between private homes, a funeral home, a VA facility, and auto-related businesses including a tire and welding shop, with a public school nearby.NYS Public Service Docs Residents say concentrating flammable batteries, existing fuels and vulnerable institutions on one block is a “disaster waiting to happen.”
For months, members of the Addisleigh Park Civic Organization and the Southeast Queens Residents Environmental Justice Coalition have rallied at Linden Boulevard and 180th Street, calling the project a “battery farm” that doesn’t belong in a residential community.NY1+1 Neighbors argue the facility could raise homeowners’ insurance, depress property values, can cause uncontrollable damage if there is an explosion and turn a historic Black neighborhood into an industrial sacrifice zone.
City officials and NineDot insist the facility will meet strict FDNY standards and is monitored around the clock.NY1+1 But for many Southeast Queens residents, the bottom line is simple: until safer technologies or stronger siting rules are in place, lithium battery farms should not be built just a few feet from people’s homes. We need to find locations further away from our homes and schools that will insure safety for all of our residents.
- Photo Credits: Addisleigh Park Civic Organization and the Southeast Queens Residents Environmental Justice Coalition
- For more information links have been provided in the article from sourced information with more details.
