All employees accounted for after 3-alarm fire erupts at lithium plant in Bessemer City

BESSEMER CITY, N.C. — Crews are continuing to put out a three-alarm fire at a Bessemer City lithium plant on Monday.

Multiple Gaston County fire departments responded to calls for a fire at Livent Corporation, a lithium plant, around 1:30 a.m.

All employees of the plant are accounted for and the smoke is not toxic, officials said.

Gaston Emergency Medical Services said there are no reports of injuries, and Bessemer City has not ordered an evacuation of the surrounding area.

Highway 161 was closed from JE Herndon Access Road to 14th Street, and residents near the plant are encouraged to stay indoors.

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Crews were still working to put out the fire Monday morning.

Scott Hunter with Gaston County Emergency Management said the fire was “highly explosive.”

“The temperature that this lithium burns at is over 1,700 degrees,” Hunter said.

Investigators say the lithium melted down like lava, and crews decided to let the fire burn itself out while they moved more than 200 drums of other materials to a safer place.

Hunter says it’s not clear how long the investigation will take because the damage at the site makes it dangerous for people on the ground.

“What we could call in the fire service an unorthodox type of investigation,” Hunter said.

There’s a special substance firefighters have to use to put out fires like this. While the plant did have some inside, most only have enough for small fires. Hunter said even with help from neighboring plants, there was no way to get enough of that substance to put out the fire.

No cause has been reported yet. State and federal investigators are helping determine what started the fire.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

(WATCH BELOW: Arrest made in northwest Charlotte fire that was intentionally set, CFD says)