Monterey County supervisors on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in response to last week's major fire at the Vistra lithium battery plant in Moss Landing.

The dramatic fire at the the Vistra battery storage plant, one of the world’s largest, caused the evacuation of 1,200 people in Northern Monterey County, closed Highway 1 and sent large clouds of toxic black smoke billowing from at one of the world’s largest battery storage plants.

Five days after a huge fire at one of the world’s largest battery storage plants in Moss Landing, Gov. Gavin Newsom has called for an investigation into the blaze, which has jolted California’s renewable energy industry.

In an emergency meeting, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors voted to request Vistra Energy and PG&E cease operations at their Moss Landing battery energy storage facilities until a cause of last week's fire is determined.

In the wake of the Moss Landing lithium battery plant fire, another coastal Calif. town tells Texas company to go away for good.

Then in September 2022, a fire broke out at the PG&E Elkhorn Battery plant. Police closed Highway 1 for 12 hours. An investigation found it was caused by an improperly installed vent shield on one of the 256 units, which allowed rainwater to get in and short out the batteries. There were no injuries to firefighters, PG&E employees or the public.

Vistra planned to build a 600-megawatt battery energy storage facility at the retired Morro Bay Power Plant property — but Assemblymember Dawn Addis called for an end to the project after the Moss Landing fire. “We can never have a disaster like this again,” she said in a statement Monday.