Scientists have linked a lithium battery plant fire in California earlier this month to a surge in heavy metals found in nearby soil.

Less than two weeks after a huge fire in Moss Landing at one of the world’s largest battery storage plants, scientists affiliated with San Jose State University have discovered unusually high levels of toxic metals in soils at Elkhorn Slough,

A group of researchers says they have found high concentrations of heavy metals in a California estuary near the site of a major fire that destroyed a battery storage facility south of San Francisco earlier in January.