After a fire at a Monterey County battery storage facility, scientists say high levels of heavy metals were found at a nearby estuary, a home to endangered species.

Monterey County supervisors on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in response to last week's major fire at the Vistra lithium battery plant in Moss Landing.

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.