Scientists have linked a lithium battery plant fire in California earlier this month to a surge in heavy metals found in nearby soil.

A group of researchers says they have found high concentrations of heavy metals in a California estuary near the site of a major fire that destroyed a battery storage facility south of San Francisco earlier in January.

When a massive fire erupted at one of the world's largest lithium-ion battery storage facilities in Monterey County, it didn't just send a toxic plume of smoke over nearby communities — it cast a shadow of doubt over the future of California's clean energy industry.