The title of the thread not withstanding, LAX
airport was not closed. Two separate incidents about an hour apart closed 3 and 1 terminal/s respectively. Other terminals were disprupted by road closures.
wrt to exploding batteries, it might have been one of these:
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announces the following recall in voluntary cooperation with the firm below. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.
Name of product: Fuji Power and A&T Fuji Power CR123A 3-Volt lithium batteries originally provided with GallsŪ H.A.L.O. Tactical Flashlight.
Units: Approximately 10,084
Hazard: The batteries originally provided with the flashlight may overheat or explode presenting a potential for fire or personal injury.
Incidents/Injuries: Five reports of batteries overheating or exploding have been received, causing minor injuries such as burns and minor property damage from fire.
Evacuation of terminal(s) is SOP for the TSA whenever
anything untoward occurs. And that's how it should be, you don't want individual screeners making the decision as to what is and what is not a genuine threat, because they are not trained and/or smart enough to be relied upon to make the right call.
Looking at past incidents it does appear that the infrastructure at LAX needs some adjustments, evacuations take place there at a rate of 2 a month.