A fire erupted Tuesday at a battery storage unit inside a Metropolitan Water District facility in La Verne, setting off evacuation orders for the immediate area and evacuation warnings for neighborhoods to the north and east. One employee suffered minor injuries and was taken to a local hospital as crews moved in.
The blaze was reported around 11:40 a.m. near a solar panel field on the northeast side of the facility in the 3200 block of Wheeler Avenue. Firefighters from the La Verne Fire Department and Los Angeles County Fire Department responded, while La Verne police said shopping centers along Wheeler Avenue north of Foothill Boulevard were evacuated as a precaution.
The disruption spread quickly beyond the fence line. Grace Miller Elementary School was placed under a shelter-in-place order, Holly Oak Street south of the school was closed to traffic, and students appeared to be released from campus while firefighters battled the blaze. Ramona Middle School and Bonita High School were also affected, and Holy Name of Mary School, Damien High School and the University of La Verne were evacuated.
The Metropolitan Water District said its water supply was not affected, even as the fire forced emergency action around the facility. That detail matters because the fire did not threaten service, but it still shut down daily life around it, from classrooms to shopping centers, in a matter of minutes.
The fire involved a battery storage unit, but the cause has not been given. The University of La Verne said all classes were canceled until further notice, and the source of the blaze remains the central unanswered question after the immediate danger prompted evacuations across the area.
