Codes, Standards and How Battery Fires Are Fought

Battery safety rules come in layers. A product standard says the equipment was built and tested a certain way. An installation standard says how it must be placed and protected. A fire code makes those enforceable in a jurisdiction. And a fire department's tactics decide what happens when all of that is not enough. A county that knows which layer is missing knows what to ask for.

The standards stack

What changed in the 2026 NFPA 855

• A hazard mitigation analysis is now the default for most installations unless a technology chapter says otherwise, and removing the old maximum stored energy table means exceeding a threshold no longer lets a project skip it.
• Large-scale fire testing is required alongside UL 9540A, conducted or witnessed by an approved lab, to show whether a fire in one unit spreads to the next and to characterize the gas.
• Where cell or module tests release flammable gas, a unit-level test with intentional ignition of vent gas.
• Minimum requirements for an emergency response plan covering mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery, developed with the authority having jurisdiction, reviewed yearly, with yearly refresher training.
• Early fire detection may use smoke, thermal imaging or radiant energy detection.

What the 2021 and later IFC require

The 2021 IFC, as shown in California's 2022 fire code built on it, requires outdoor storage to be at least 10 feet from lot lines, public ways, buildings, stored combustibles and other exposures, and defines remote outdoor installations as those more than 100 feet from such exposures. It requires explosion control under Section 911 for rooms and walk-in units unless large-scale testing shows flammable gas is not released, commissioning and decommissioning plans, and a hazard mitigation analysis in listed situations. New York's version of the 2024 code carries the same 10-foot and 100-foot lines and notes they are based on the 2023 NFPA 855.

Idaho's code, and its gaps

Idaho Code 41-253 adopts the International Fire Code, 2000 edition, "and such later editions as may be so published and adopted by the state fire marshal," as the statewide minimum. IDAPA 18.08.01 carries the State Fire Marshal's amendments. The State Fire Marshal's codes page lists the 2018 IFC as the adopted edition. This course found no later statewide adoption as of October 2026.

For batteries, that edition leaves real gaps.

• Scope. The 2018 IFC's Section 1206.1 describes energy storage systems "designed to provide electrical power to a building or facility," such as standby power and load shedding. A standalone grid battery that exports to the grid does not fit that description neatly. How the code applies is the fire code official's call.
• Utility exclusion. Section 1201.1 says Chapter 12 does not apply to generation, transmission and distribution equipment under the exclusive control of an electric utility. Whether a utility-owned battery at a substation falls in that exclusion is again a question for the fire code official, and worth asking about in writing.
• Older numbers. The 2018 edition sets 5 feet of outdoor separation from lot lines, public ways and buildings (10 feet from means of egress), has no remote-installation category, and has no Section 911 explosion control requirement for batteries. It does require UL 9540 listing for prepackaged systems, an energy management system with alarms, and a hazard mitigation analysis in specific cases.

A county is not stuck with the minimum. Idaho Code 67-6512(d) lets a county attach conditions to a special use permit, including "requiring more restrictive standards than those generally required in an ordinance," and 67-6512(e) lets it require studies of a project's effects before granting the permit. Requiring compliance with the 2026 NFPA 855, a UL 9540A and large-scale fire test report for the exact product, and written fire district approval of the emergency response plan are common conditions. The fire and battery safety lesson in the energy siting course shows how to write them, and the conditional uses lesson covers the permit process.

States are moving too. California's SB 283, signed in October 2025 and effective January 1, 2026, requires developers to consult local fire authorities on design, risk and emergency plans before applying, and requires a fire safety inspection, paid by the owner, before a facility can operate.

How battery fires are fought

Battery fires flipped some old firefighting habits. UL FSRI's report on the 2019 Arizona explosion recommended hazmat training focused on storage systems, remotely accessible gas monitoring, explosion prevention and full-scale testing to find the safest tactics. Since then, the record in EPRI's database shows a fairly consistent playbook.

Water is used to cool and to protect exposures, and sometimes, inside buildings, through sprinkler systems; Gateway's response pumped water into the building's suppression system, per EPRI's event page. Every gallon that touches burning batteries can carry contaminants, which lesson 9 covers.

Letting a unit burn is a trade. It keeps firefighters out of the blast zone, which is where people have been hurt and killed. It also means smoke for hours or days. Residents near Moss Landing and Melba lived through exactly that, and most neighbors mean that experience when they talk about battery risk.

Evacuation and shelter orders

Radius          Square miles               Homes at 40/sq mi
600 ft          pi x (600/5,280)^2 = 0.041   about 2
1/4 mile        pi x 0.25^2       = 0.196   about 8
1/3 mile        pi x 0.333^2      = 0.349   about 14
1 mile          pi x 1^2          = 3.14    about 126
2 miles         pi x 2^2          = 12.6    about 503

1/4 mile in acres: 0.196 x 640 = about 126 acres