If the September 22 battery fire at the Metropolitan Water District facility on Wheeler Avenue closed your doors or kept customers and employees away, McCune Law Group wants you to have clear, accurate information.
Have questions? Call (909) 584-3749 or complete our secure form for a free, confidential conversation.
Were you displaced from your home instead of your business? Visit our La Verne resident information page.
What Happened in La Verne
Around 11:40 a.m. on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, a fire broke out in a lithium-ion battery energy storage system near a solar panel field at the Metropolitan Water District facility on Wheeler Avenue. A hazmat team responded, and evacuation orders went out across the surrounding neighborhoods. The original fire is out, but officials say the damaged batteries can reheat and potentially reignite.
La Verne police evacuated the shopping centers along Wheeler Avenue north of Foothill Boulevard as a precaution. The University of La Verne evacuated its campus and canceled classes for the rest of the day before reopening Wednesday, and all city sports programming was canceled because of potential air-quality concerns.
As of September 25, the evacuation order has been lifted. The original order area ran north to Foothill Boulevard, south to Paseo Drive, Winterhaven Drive, and Kendrick Drive, east to B Street, and west to Moreno Avenue, though immediately surrounding areas may also have been impacted. Some orders were later downgraded to warnings or advisories.
Many of those closures were precautionary. But for local businesses, the impact was real.
Who McCune Law Group Is Hearing From
We are listening to business owners whose operations depended on customers, employees, suppliers, or deliveries in the affected area, including:
- Restaurants and food service with closed dining rooms, spoiled inventory, or canceled orders
- Retail businesses in the Wheeler Avenue shopping centers cleared by police
- Personal services such as salons, gyms, and medical, dental, or veterinary offices with canceled appointments
- Businesses near campus that depend on University of La Verne students and staff
- Trades and service providers unable to reach job sites inside the zones
- Home-based businesses and owners who also live inside the zones. Visit our La Verne resident information page for household information.
It is too early to know what, if anything, comes next, and not every closure leads to a legal claim. But your experience helps us understand what this event cost La Verne’s local economy.
Types of Losses Worth Documenting
Every business is different. Worth documenting now:
- Lost revenue from closure and reduced foot traffic
- Payroll paid to employees who could not work
- Spoiled or unusable inventory
- Rent, utilities, and other fixed costs incurred while closed
- Canceled appointments, events, and orders, and forfeited deposits
- Household costs if you also live in the zones
Save receipts, POS reports, payroll runs, vendor invoices, and any insurance correspondence. Pull daily sales for the closure period and the same days last year while the numbers are easy to find.
Why McCune Law Group
For more than 35 years, McCune Law Group has protected consumers and small business owners in Southern California, and we have recovered more than $1 billion for our clients.* McCune Law Group filed a class action in federal court over the May 2026 GKN Aerospace chemical evacuation in Garden Grove, and we serve as co-lead counsel in the litigation over the June 17, 2026 Lineage Logistics warehouse fire in Boyle Heights.
Our principal office is on East Guasti Road in Ontario, a short drive from La Verne. We work on contingency. You pay nothing unless we recover money for you.**
Frequently Asked Questions
My shop was just outside the evacuation line. Does my experience count?
Possibly, yes. Customers, employees, and deliveries headed into the zones were affected too. Keep the same records an evacuated business would.
We reopened Wednesday. Is one day of lost business worth writing down?
Yes. Document it now while the numbers are easy to pull.
My insurance covers business interruption. Do I need to talk to anyone?
Possibly. If your claim is denied or only partly paid, ask for the decision in writing and keep a copy.
What documentation is useful to keep?
Daily sales or POS reports for the affected period and the same period last year, payroll records, vendor invoices, lease and utility bills, insurance correspondence, and any messages confirming canceled bookings or orders.
I run my business from home inside the zone. Which page is for me?
Both. Visit our La Verne resident information page for the household side.
Do we need to decide anything right now?
No. Get your doors open and your team settled first. That said, legal deadlines do apply to matters like this, so it is better to ask questions sooner than later.
Disclosures
* Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is evaluated on its own facts.
** Costs and expenses may be advanced and recovered from a settlement or judgment when one is obtained.
Related: Environmental practice | La Verne resident information page
Attorney Advertising
McCune Law Group, APC is responsible for this advertisement. The information provided on this website is for general information purposes only. The information you obtain is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. Use of this website or submission of the online form does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Counsel Michele Vercoski is licensed to practice in California, New York, and New Jersey. The law firm of McCune Law Group has attorneys licensed to practice law in AZ, CA, GA, MO, NY, and PA. McCune Law Group is a national firm that brings lawsuits in a majority of the states. In states where one of its attorneys is not barred, it does so by filing the complaint along with local counsel barred in that state.
The results discussed do not guarantee, warrant, or predict the results in future cases.
Need More Information?
Contact us today at (909) 584-3749 to talk with our team about the La Verne battery fire evacuation.
