Evacuation order for lithium battery fire west of downtown Columbus lifted

Authorities lifted an evacuation order for a one-mile area west of downtown Columbus Thursday morning hours after a tractor trailer carrying lithium batteries caught fire.

Columbus Division of Fire Battalion Chief Jeffery Geitter said Columbus firefighters were called to the 1600 block of Mckinley Avenue at about 6 a.m. Thursday morning after the trailer was seen smoking. Inside were lithium ion batteries, Geitter said.

At 7:30 a.m., Geitter said Columbus police officers were moving door-to-door evacuating residents. The evacuation order was lifted just before 10 a.m.

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Four exit ramps are closed as a result of the evacuation, including ramps to Grandview Avenue from I-670 West and I-670 East and ramps to U.S. 40/Broad Street from I-70 East and I-70 West, but later reopened.

Map of the hazmat fire location

The Columbus Division of Fire’s hazmat team worked with the EPA and other agencies to assess the situation. The lithium ion batteries could explode or burn very rapidly, Geitter said.

“This is a really methodical process,” Geitter said. “It's nothing we rush, and so we're just trying to handle this appropriately with the best experts advising.”

Geitter gave the following boundaries for the evacuation zone:

• East boundary: Central Avenue
• West boundary: North Grandview Avenue
• North boundary: McKinley Avenue
• South boundary: Broad Street

People displaced by the evacuation could go to Dodge Park and Community Center, Geitter said.

bagallion@dispatch.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Evacuation order for lithium battery fire west of downtown Columbus lifted