Firefighters responded to a small fire at the Tesla Inc. factory. in Fremont, California, Thursday afternoon.
“Located in an area of the factory that is under construction, the deep fire was contained in a vehicle stamping machine,” the Fremont fire service said in an Instagram post Thursday night, referring to Tesla’s giant stamping machine, called Giga Press. “The cause of the fire is molten aluminum and hydraulic fluid. The hydraulic fluid was identified as the source of the fire. “
No injuries were reported.
The video of a news helicopter showed that the fire had been extinguished, with firefighters and Tesla workers remaining around an outdoor structure containing machinery, outside the main factory building. Light rays of smoke were visible.
According to the Electrek news blog, the Giga Press is a giant casting machine that was installed at the Fremont factory last year and is used to stamp large parts of vehicle bodies. Electrek speculated that the damage to the Giga Press could affect production, although it is unknown at this time.
Tesla did not respond to any requests for comment or details, but also dissolved its media relations department last year.
The Fremont factory employs about 10,000 people and produces Model S, Model 3, Model X and Model Y electric vehicles.
Another small fire broke out at the facility in August 2018 and caused no injuries and did not affect production.
The Fremont plant was closed for two days last month due to what CEO Elon Musk called a “shortage of parts.”
Tesla shares TSLA,
they gained almost 5% on Thursday, but so far they are flat, compared to 5% for the S&P 500 SPX,
this year.