Firefighters responded to a small fire at Tesla Inc.’s plant in Fremont, California, on Thursday afternoon.
“Located in an area of the factory property that is under construction, the deep fire was contained for a vehicle manufacturing stamping machine,” said the Fremont Fire Department in an Instagram post Thursday night, referring to to Tesla’s giant stamping machine called Giga Press. “The cause of the fire is cast aluminum and hydraulic fluid. The hydraulic fluid was identified as the source of the fire. “
There were no reported injuries.
A helicopter video from the news showed that the fire had been extinguished, with firefighters and Tesla workers lazing around a covered, open-air structure containing machinery, away from the main factory building. Light streaks of smoke were visible.
According to the Electrek news blog, Giga Press is a giant smelting machine that was installed at the Fremont plant last year and is used to stamp large vehicle body parts. Electrek speculated that the damage to the Giga Press could affect production, although to what extent it is still unknown.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment or details, but it also dissolved its media relations department last year.
The Fremont plant 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, causing no injuries and not affecting production.
The Fremont plant was closed for two days last month due to what CEO Elon Musk called a “parts shortage”.
Tesla shares TSLA,
gained almost 5% on Thursday, but is stable for the year to date, compared to a 5% gain for the S&P 500 SPX,
this year.