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Town of Hamburg Planning Board Minutes May 20, 2026 The Applicant responded that at this point, they do not have any of their projects operational. The first one is in its final approval stage. However, there are tens of thousands of the Megapack 2XL’s in operation across the country. At this point in time, there have been zero instances of a fire with this battery, which is why they chose to go with this technology. John Macon, Leader of the Southtowns Hazmat Team, was in attendance and available to answer questions the Planning Board may have. Chair Gronachan asked if she was correct with what was stated in regard to the fires in the other cities? Are those fires similar to this kind of project? Mr. Macon did not have knowledge of all the fires but could speak on 1 or 2 of them. This is a different project than what was involved in those other areas and to his knowledge a different company. Every company uses a different technology, and the chemistry of the batteries are different as well as different safety precautions. The fire that was near Watertown had older technology older systems and was very different from what is being proposed here. Chair Gronachan asked Mr. Macon if he can address the concerns and rumors regarding whether if there is a fire, you cannot have water used on it and it has to burn for days? Mr. Macon answered that every locality is different. Lithium-Ion Batteries are not a new technology, but it is a new problem. There is new technology coming out every day including new extinguishing agents that are being proposed to put out the batteries. However, you are correct that water is not a great extinguishing agent for these batteries. Chair Gronachan asked what does the fire department have to do to meet the standards of the New York State Fire Code? Mr. Macon said that he cannot speak to the fire code as he is not an expert on that. The Southtowns Hazmat Team has people that they call when they have questions. Chair Gronachan would like to have someone look at the new State Fire Code because it has just changed due to what happened with these older fires. She asked with respect to the Blasdell facility, do the fire departments in that area have to have different training required versus the typical training? Mr. Macon said the training that was mentioned this evening is very similar to the training that was received for the facility in Blasdell. The Applicant is an expert in that 20