A lithium-ion battery pack caught fire inside a Beta Technologies shipping container at the eVTOL developer’s facilities near Burlington (Vermont) International Airport on Aug. 26 at approximately 12:30 p.m. EDT. Beta Technologies, which aims to have its all-electric Alia 250 in service in 2025, is working with the local fire department to determine what caused the fire.

“There were no injuries or damage to our current test equipment or aircraft and the fire was quickly extinguished,” a company spokesperson told AIN. “We are grateful to the first responders who arrived on the scene, and that the response plans and safety precautions we have in place worked effectively. An investigation into the root cause of the incident is underway.”

Beta said the fire started in a reassembled lithium-ion battery pack that had been stored in the shipping container while awaiting end-of-line testing. Because the reassembled battery pack had not yet been through the testing process, it had not been approved for flight, according to Beta. South Burlington fire marshal Terry Francis told local news outlet WCAX that the lithium-ion battery underwent a thermal runaway event.

In 2019, the company experienced another lithium-ion fire inside a storage container at the same facility, according to WCAX. According to Luminati Aerospace CEO Daniel Preston, just about every major eVTOL developer has experienced a fire caused by lithium-ion batteries.

Want more? You can find a longer version of this article at FutureFlight.aero, a news and information resource developed by AIN to provide objective coverage and analysis of cutting-edge aviation technology.