ESCONDIDO, Calif. (KGTV) — A development center was one of the businesses that had to evacuate after a fire broke out at a lithium-ion battery storage facility in Escondido on Thursday afternoon.
Susie Niemi, the Executive Director at Growing Minds Child Development Center, said the center had to be evacuated after they received information from the Escondido Police Department.
The center’s room is usually filled with over 50 children, but it sits empty on Friday.
Due to evacuation orders Thursday afternoon, parents had to make other arrangements and call out of work on Friday for their child’s safety.
“And of course, when you get that kind of a call, you usually drop everything and come get your kiddos in; in this case, that's exactly what they did,” said Niemi.
This center is not the only location that had to stop its operations on Friday. The Escondido Union School District also closed multiple campuses for the day due to the fire.
“So whenever we have to close down like this, yes, it does put a bit of a hindrance on the families,” said Niemi.
A business, Home Sweet Home Cafe, was also evacuated on Thursday.
“So it's kind of hard because I don't know what to tell my employees that they couldn't work. So, I'm just waiting to hear something from the city. It's costing me a fortune, you know, being shut down,” said Lisa Coast, owner of Home Sweet Home Cafe.
SDG&E told ABC 10News in a statement that said:
“Due to the nature of the systems, industry standard is to allow the fire to burn out when it can be done safely and in a controlled environment. Sdg&e will continue to work closely with fire officials until the storage container has been fully extinguished, which could take up to 48 hours.”
Air quality reports in Escondido for Friday reached unsafe levels for sensitive groups. Lithium-ion battery smoke left shelter-in-place warnings lingering Friday.
This left business owners thinking not about missing a day of operations but about their clients, who rely on them.
“This is not money-driven at all. So if, if this, if the safety of the children is ever in question, that will always come first and to serve our families so that they can go to work and have a safe place to drop their children off while we get their children kindergarten ready. We are shutting down a center to us,” said Niemi.
