This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
California's problem with fires, where wildland blazes already have scorched some 40,000 acres and consumed 12,000 homes and other buildings in Los Angeles, has gotten worse.
There now is a fire that has hit a lithium battery storage site in Monterey County, and there are concerns it will jeopardize California's power grid.
A report from RedState explained, "There's a huge fire Thursday night at a lithium battery plant in northern Monterey County. What's a little lithium smoke in the air in the name of progress, right?
"Highway 1 is closed and evacuations were ordered in Moss Landing and the Elkhorn Slough area after a major fire erupted Thursday afternoon at a battery storage plant in Moss Landing in northern Monterey County," the report explained.
RedState's comments continued, "It all seems as if it's almost timed to coincide with the return of Donald Trump's return to power. The failure of progressive leadership has been exposed in a way that it has never been before as disastrous wildfires wipe out entire neighborhoods in deep-blue Los Angeles, a result not only of natural forces like unusually high winds and dry conditions but by the epic breakdown of any real leadership in the Golden State and the misplaced priorities of elected officials like LA Mayor Karen Bass and camera-addicted Gov. Gavin Newsom."
Monterey County spokesman Nicholas Pasculli confirmed the fire was raging out of control and some 1,500 people were ordered evacuated from nearby residential areas.
The report said the plant is located on the site of a now-shuttered 1950s-era PG&E Moss Landing natural gas plant visible for its huge smokestacks near Moss Landing Harbor.
The battery storage unit provides power to PG&E.
