Sue Lani Madsen: EV fires require additional firefighter training

Refueling your car by plugging it into a convenient electrical outlet is a deceptively attractive idea. Who wants to land at the gas station as prices fly past four dollars a gallon? For those who can afford a new car, an electric vehicle must look pretty tempting.

There are two major problems with the growing number of electric vehicles on the road. One was well covered by John Harrison in a piece published Friday in The Spokesman-Review titled “One big detail could derail Northwest’s clean-energy goals.” We have a logjam in the electrical grid, and it will be well after 2030 before we can solve it.

Which is good news for first responders, because we have a problem affecting fire departments everywhere. Lithium-ion batteries are subject to thermal runaway and as hard to extinguish as trick candles on a birthday cake.

Even conventional vehicles have lithium-ion batteries serving their highly computerized control systems. When the Edwall Fire Station was paged to a vehicle fire in a driveway, our firefighters had a heck of a time cooling down the battery. Just when we thought we had enough water on it, there’d be blue flashes as it arced and rekindled.

But EV and hybrid vehicles relying on lithium-ion battery cells as their fuel source kick the fire suppression problem to a whole new level. When a damaged lithium-ion battery overheats, the result is a thermal runaway.

The horseless carriage solved the problem of runaway horses but introduced new transportation hazards as the early automobile industry focused on style and speed rather than safety. Congress was moved to act with the publication of Ralph Nader’s “Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile.” It took decades for safety to become a selling point both for consumers and manufacturers.

Now as Congress and progressively controlled legislatures push electric vehicle technology onto the highway, new hazards are being downplayed by the same industry that resisted prioritizing safety in the 1960s. The dangers are inherent in the design. An ordinary motor vehicle accident involving an EV may be enough to start the runaway cycle.

The first step in any response is a good scene size up, including identifying the problem. A recent webinar presented by the National Volunteer Fire Council and supported by General Motors emphasized both the importance and the difficulty of identifying an EV after a typical motor vehicle accident. With no consistent labeling and manufacturers proudly marketing to consumers how their EV models are indistinguishable from their standard of models, the dangers are hidden from first responders.

Some fire departments assume every vehicle fire or accident involves an EV. It’s the most cautious approach, but it ties up more resources.

Tom Miller, certified fire instructor and hazardous materials specialist speaking at the webinar, explained cooling water is necessary whether there is a flame or not, while monitoring temperature for thermal runaway. Magnesium, titanium and steel will burn once the battery “lights off” at 1800 degrees. That intense heat separates water into hydrogen and oxygen, adding a flammable gas and an oxidizing gas to the situation. The toxic gases created when a lithium ion battery burns result in chemical exposure well beyond “simple” smoke inhalation. Responders require full structural gear and self-contained breathing apparatus for protection.

A conventional combustion engine fire can be doused with the 750 to 1,000 gallons available on a single fire truck. To properly extinguish an EV passenger vehicle requires anywhere from 3,000 to 8,000 gallons, applied directly to the battery compartment to keep it cool and prevent a runaway. And unless the EV has conveniently flipped upside down to provide easy access to the battery, the amount of water may be even higher. A commercial-size EV like a school bus may require as much as 160,000 gallons of water applied over a nine-hour period. A response to a single EV incident ties up resources for hours just to keep the battery cool.

Such fires are high consequence but still low-frequency events, for now. Even without fire, stranded energy in live batteries creates other hazards for first responders and for second-tier responders like tow-truck drivers. Combined with the latest in automatic driving features, stranded energy has resulted in firefighter injuries when an EV started up with a mind of its own.

And Miller pointed out it’s more complicated when it’s a multiple vehicle accident like the recent 50-or-more-car pileup on Interstate 81 in Pennsylvania, which included six to eight EV or hybrids crunched amongst the tractor trailer rigs.

It’s probably a good thing the grid is jammed. EVs may be ready for the road, but the road isn’t ready for them.

Contact Sue Lani Madsen at rulingpen@gmail.com.