An enormous blaze erupted at a Missouri lithium-ion battery recycling plant, prompting evacuations of employees and some residents. “Watch as numerous fire departments rush to the scene of a major fire at a lithium battery recycling plant in Fredericktown, Missouri, earlier this evening. The blaze, which broke out at the 225,000-square-foot facility owned by Critical Mineral Recovery, led to shelter-in-place advisories and mandatory evacuation orders in the surrounding area,” Rawsalerts wrote. “According to its website, the company uses this facility to ‘recycle lithium-ion battery materials from battery manufacturers, automotive OEMs, battery dealers, recyclers, and processors worldwide,’ describing it as ‘one of the largest lithium-ion battery processing facilities in the world.’ All plant workers have been safely accounted for, with only minor injuries reported,” the post added. WATCH: #WATCH: As a major fire breaks out at a recycling Lithium Battery plant triggering massive explosions leading to mandatory evacuations⁰⁰#Fredericktown | #Missouri Watch as numerous fire departments rush to the scene of a major fire at a lithium battery recycling plant in… pic.twitter.com/rLZIV11zCy — R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) October 31, 2024 “We urge citizens to SHELTER IN PLACE INDOORS if you are in the smoke plume resulting from the industrial fire at 815 HWY OO. Close windows, doors, and turn off window AC systems. The ONLY evacuation order is for residents on Madison County Road 277,” the Fredericktown Fire Department posted to Facebook. “Again, if you see smoke stay indoors. Current modeling attached to this post, for this incident, shows smoke moving to the north of the fire. The City of Fredericktown is not currently affected by this order. Winds will continue to push smoke in this direction until Thursday morning after 5am-6am,” it added. Happening now, in Fredericktown, Missouri, at the Critical Mineral Recovery battery processing plant, the Lithium Ion battery plant is on fire with toxic gas forcing manditory evacuations.The Critical Mineral Recovery plant is a 225,000 square foot processing facility and… pic.twitter.com/RYfqNv7pw6 — NYCFireWire (@NYCFireWire) October 31, 2024 From the Missouri Independent: Photos posted on Facebook by Madison County 911 show Critical Mineral Recovery, one of the world’s largest lithium-ion battery processing facilities, with a hole in its partially-collapsed roof. Smoke billowed from the charred building and a slight glow of remnant fire could be seen inside. According to the company’s website, the plant processes electric vehicle and consumer-grade lithium-ion batteries and retrieves valuable metals and minerals, including copper, nickel, cobalt, lithium, manganese and aluminum. The recycled materials can be used to build new batteries. The fire erupted in spite of what the company’s website calls “likely the most sophisticated automated and remote supervised and controlled fire suppression systems in the world.” “The state-of-the-art fire prevention system is designed to detect fires before they start,” the company’s site says. “The system covers all areas where battery materials are stored or processed. It is monitored remotely 24/7 employing high-intensity industrial forward looking infrared…camera technology.” Huge blaze at one of world's largest lithium-ion battery facilities Authorities have reportedly asked residents to evacuate the area or remain sheltered after a fire broke out at the lithium battery recycling centre in Fredericktown, Missouri pic.twitter.com/QqftSaorDN — RT (@RT_com) October 31, 2024 Per UPI: At least 25 fire departments, along with multiple enforcement agencies, responded to the scene, according to Madison County Sheriff Katy McCutcheon, who told reporters during a brief conference that dispatch received a call about the fire at 1:37 p.m. local time. She said the fire had been “somewhat contained” and that the evacuations were ordered for Madison County Road 277, where smoke from the plant was wafting. Fire officials are warning winds are expected to continue to push the smoke in a north-northwest direction into Thursday morning. “We were told by plant operations managers that they’re not concerned with the smoke but it’s heavy enough that people do need to evacuate,” she said. The cause of the fire was under investigation, and the contents of the smoke were to be tested by the Department of Natural Resources. McCutcheon said it was unclear what was on fire. Critical Mineral Recovery was “being tight-lipped,” she said. No injuries were reported. “This could have been completely worse,” she said.