By Mark Cowling | Pinal Central
Thanks to technological advances, industrial-size battery fires are rare, easier to contain and pose less public hazards than a burning house, the Pinal County Board of Supervisors was told Nov. 12.
“There’s no such thing as a good fire, but we need to look at facts and data, and not so much fear and emotion,” James Caulfield, a senior fire protection consultant for the independent company Fire & Risk Alliance, told the board.
The board is increasingly asked to approve battery energy storage systems, or BESS, a means of storing electricity for later use to help stabilize the power grid. Supervisor Rich Vitiello, R-Maricopa, said he asked for the presentation to show the benefits of recent innovations.
