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Small fire breaks out near Tesla factory in Fremont

A fire started on a cardboard pile before being quickly extinguished.

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Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.
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tesla-factory-fire

A small fire at Tesla Motors' Fremont, California, factory.

 Raj Mathai/Twitter

A small fire broke out at Motors' factory in Fremont, California, on Thursday, sending a cloud of black smoke in the air before firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze.

The fire started at about 5:20 p.m. on a cardboard pile close to the factory test track and then spread to an outside structure and sparked a grass fire, the Fremont Fire Department told SFGate. The fire was contained around 6 p.m. and there were no injuries reported.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

"This evening, some cardboard and shipping materials being prepared for recycling on our southern fence line caught fire, along with a small patch of grass next to a Tesla parking lot," Tesla said a statement. "We would like to thank the Fremont Fire Department for their rapid response."

Tesla's is produced at the Fremont facility, but a person familiar with the factory's layout said the fire wasn't near the general assembly tent and it won't impact production.

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