Watch what it’s like to handle an overturned truck full of burning batteries

A truck full of lithium-ion batteries was knocked over near the Port of Los Angeles on September 26th, exploded, and was left to burn for days — interrupting traffic on highways, and a bridge and shutting down port terminals. A local towing company, Pepe’s Towing Service, caught the explosion on camera and vlogged the incident for days until it was time for them to haul the remnants away.

Pepe’s Tow Service owner Josh Acosta uploaded a lengthy video today chronicling the point of explosion, the long wait as the Fire Department let the batteries burn, and the process of lifting the container full of burnt batteries to transport. In the video, we see what looks like stacks of batteries with liquid cooling pipes between each layer.

Image: Pepe’s Towing Service

Image: Pepe’s Towing Service

Image: Pepe’s Towing Service

In a phone call with The Verge, Acosta says the battery is one “giant container-sized battery” that “does not come apart.” He believes it could be used in buildings for backup power. According to Acosta, the battery weighed 60,000 pounds.

Acosta says he doesn’t remember which company owns the container that transported the battery — but his video blurs out text on the side of the container anyhow.

The video shows the painstaking logistics for firefighters dealing with burning lithium-ion cells — they often need to use thousands of gallons of water to put these out, including on electric vehicle fires. And in this case, the Los Angeles Fire Department told The Verge that the fire kept going on and off.

Acosta told us he was called to the job by the customer who owns the overturned truck, and that’s why he caught the moment on camera. Now, Pepe’s Towing is hauling the remnants of the container for scrap recycling.