Third-party who conducted battery burning at Piqua facility moves out

PIQUA — The City of Piqua confirmed Tuesday that the company that conducted battery burning at the city’s old water treatment plant is gone for good.

Energy Storage Response Group has vacated the property, removed all materials and no longer has access, the city posted on their website.

ESRG leased a portion of the site to conduct research into lithium-ion battery burning.

Fire Chief Brent Pohlschneider said the department planned to use the research to prepare firefighters for fires involving lithium-ion batteries.

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The community has been worried about the chance of chemicals in the air, soil, and water as thick black smoke was frequently released at the facility.

With help from the Ohio EPA and an independent sampling and testing company called WSP Global Inc., the city tested the water for 28 metals and anions.

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It found the water was clean for bathing, drinking, and cooking, according to the city said.

Some people don’t trust the results, as the city issued a press release instead of their actual findings.

“We’d like to see the data the report from the water testing…there’s still so much that’s unknown. And the water this could take years to figure out,” Debbie Stein said.

The city said the site will now be used for technical and fire certification training.

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