Fire at GM Design Studio in East Pasadena Triggers Four-Alarm Response

[Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article misstated that the GM facility caught fire; it was, in fact, not a structure fire. According to GM, the fire involved a single design concept vehicle and did not spread to other vehicles or to the building structure itself. The article incorrectly suggested that multiple prototype vehicles and lithium-ion batteries were involved.]

More than 100 firefighters and a hazardous materials team battled a four-alarm blaze Wednesday evening at General Motors’ Advanced Design Center in Pasadena, where a prototype vehicle reportedly ignited in one of the city’s largest fire responses in years.

The fire broke out around 5:50 p.m. in the 600 block of Sierra Madre Villa Avenue and the department’s response quickly escalated due to the hazardous materials involved, according to Pasadena Chief Communications Officer Lisa Derderian said.

Hazardous materials teams were actively engaged on scene when an incident prompted a mayday call from a firefighter who became trapped inside the smoke-filled building. He was rescued without injury and declined hospital transport, Derderian told the Los Angeles Times.

The fire occurred in GM’s 149,000-square-foot, three-building design campus, which opened in 2021 following the automaker’s $71 million investment. The facility houses concept vehicles and advanced battery systems. Preliminary reports indicated both lithium-ion battery packs and gasoline-powered prototype cars were involved in the fire, though the exact cause remains under investigation.

Firefighters took more than an hour to locate the source of the blaze as thick smoke filled the facility.

Lithium-ion battery fires are notoriously difficult to extinguish, Derderian has said, because overheating cells can trigger chain reactions that release toxic gases and reignite even after visible flames are out.

Crews remained on site overnight to monitor for flare-ups and ensure no one else was trapped inside the facility. The incident was marked closed at 1:21 a.m., approximately 7½ hours after dispatch, according to PulsePoint logs.

“It’s a newer General Motors Design Center large facility that we’ve been boasting about for bringing new technology, design, and employment into our City,” Derderian said. “Too soon to determine how long they’ll be out of commission and how many will be impacted.”