EV fires are tough to fight and pose new hazards. Inside the race to get responders ready
LAKE FOREST, Cal. (SBG) — A car catches fire every two minutes in the United States, and firefighters are well-versed in how to respond.
But they face new hazards and challenges when that fire is in an electric vehicle or EV. Nearly 2 million EVs are already on the road and many believe they’re the future of driving. Though EV fires aren’t necessarily more common than standard car fires, they require a different approach from first responders. Spotlight on America got exclusive access to EV firefighting training as we examine the race to get first responders ready.
The fight to get first responders prepared for EV fires in Orange County, California, may have its roots in a bizarre incident that happened on August 25, 2017. An electric SUV crashed into a garage in a suburban neighborhood, sparking a blaze which then ignited the house.
"I just remember some of our firefighters standing there shooting so much water at that electric vehicle, and it not going out," Orange County Fire Captain Greg Barta told Spotlight on America. "It was something I had never seen."
Lake Forest - Garage Fire extending into attic. pic.twitter.com/Sci1lYMjKI
— OCFA PIO (@OCFireAuthority) August 26, 2017
Fire crews thought they had it under control. But 45 minutes after the flames had been extinguished, new smoke started pouring from the vehicle. According to an NTSB report, "Even though they applied a large amount of water, the underside of the vehicle kept reigniting and would not go out." Seeking help, the NTSB said, crews turned to the internet, searching online for how to tackle the new hazard. Eventually, after more than 20,000 gallons of water were used, the fire appeared to be out.
Then, it struck again. The SUV reignited while it was being loaded onto the tow truck, forcing firefighters into action again, this time, applying 300 gallons of water per minute to cool the SUV's battery. The SUV even emitted smoke once again when it was unloaded from the tow truck, sitting still in the lot.
The incident, lasting nearly seven hours, was a lesson to Orange County Fire Captain Greg Barta and his colleagues. "From the get-go, I got to see what exactly a fire involving an electric vehicle can do and the dangers they possess," he told us. Barta says that since that 2017 incident, there have been new efforts to train firefighters in his jurisdiction on how to battle EV fires and their specific challenges.
Orange County Fire & Rescue Captain Greg Barta told Spotlight on America he saw first-hand the importance of special training when it comes to EV fire (Photo: Alex Brauer)
It's an education firefighters across the country are also getting as they encounter fires involving electric vehicles. Today, there are more than 1.8 million EVs on the road. And both carmakers and the White House are pushing to get more of them on the market. But because EV fires are such a new phenomenon, there's no nationwide data tracking how often fires happen in those vehicles.
Spotlight on America uncovered at least two dozen serious fires in recent years from coast to coast. In 2018, an actress in California tweeted a video of her husband's Tesla, which she said burst into flames on a West Hollywood street. According to the NTSB, responding firefighters called Tesla representatives to figure out how best to attack the fire and Tesla warned them about the chance of re-ignition until the battery was completely cooled. No one was injured.
@Tesla This is what happened to my husband and his car today. No accident,out of the blue, in traffic on Santa Monica Blvd. Thank you to the kind couple who flagged him down and told him to pull over. And thank god my three little girls weren’t in the car with him pic.twitter.com/O4tPs5ftVo
— Mary McCormack (@marycmccormack) June 16, 2018
Read More Here: The National Desk
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