Evidence-Based EV Firefighting
The fire service is strained to develop response procedures for electric vehicle fires. Let it burn! But what if it is a busy city street? Never mind, use copious amounts of water! But what is in that runoff? Should I use a special new EV tool or fire extinguishing agent? There are a growing number of EVs, but fire research experiments and firefighting experiences are finally catching up to the new challenges presented by lithium-ion batteries in vehicles. This class will provide a working knowledge of battery fire science to make it clear how and why batteries burn differently than traditional fuels, how incident location can impact hazards, and to frame the EV fire problem. That working knowledge will be used to summarize 18 full vehicle fire experiments conducted by the Fire Safety Research Institute to assess electric vehicle fire behavior, compare it to modern gas-powered vehicle fire behavior, and determine effective fire control strategies and tactics with tools you already have. We will address whether EV fires are faster growing, bigger, and longer lasting and more likely to spread to the next vehicle or other exposures. The class will provide you with size-up and tactical considerations for EV fire incident response and best practices using the tools on every fire truck across the country: hoses, nozzles, and water. We will conclude with an assessment of the impact of EV fire blankets and under-vehicle nozzles on fire control.
