Massive fire breaks out at electric vehicle charging station factory in Italy

Indian Express
Wed, 08 May 2024 16:44 UTC

Alpitronic factory fire in Italy

The viral video shows a large area of the factory under fire, creating a scary situation in the neighbourhood.

A massive fire broke out at an Alpitronic factory in the Piani industrial area of Italy on Wednesday. The viral video shows black smoke spreading across the sky.

The video was shared by an X handle @volcaholic. The handle shared that the factory specialises in manufacturing charging stations for electric cars. In the video, one can see a large area of the factory under fire.

"As a precaution, the airspace over Bolzano has been closed, and residents are advised by the Municipality to keep their windows closed. Firefighters from Bolzano and neighbouring areas, along with technicians from the Environment Agency, are working to control the situation," the handle wrote.

The video amassed over 10,000 views in an hour, prompting reactions from several users. "Oh, that's awful. For the factory owner/employees and for the environment," a user wrote. "That can't be good. Battery components are highly flammable," another user commented.

"That can't be good. Battery components are highly flammable," a third user said.

According to agenzianova.com, the incident took place at 9 am. The localities have been asked to keep their doors and windows shut and turn their air conditioning and ventilation systems off.

Comment: Whilst there have been a number of suspect fires around the world of late, considering the problems with electric vehicles bursting into flames, this fire may have a more mundane explanation.

Notably, the UK has issued new safety guidelines with regards to enclosed car parks, electric vehicles and charging stations, which resulted in an EV driver being refused entry to a hospital carpark:

In a statement issued to the BBC, Alder Hey hospital said following advice from Merseyside Fire and Rescue it had "temporarily restricted the parking of electric vehicles in one of our smaller car parks while we upgrade its fire sprinkler system."

"Electric vehicles are still able to park in our main Hospital car park", it continued, pointing out it also had 14 spaces with EV charging points.