Superior Township Fire Department Chief Amy Jere partnered with Smithers Winter Test Center (SWTC) Director of Operations Sean Connolly to host an electric vehicle training on Earth Day this past Saturday at the test track.
“There are unique circumstances when you are dealing with electric vehicles,” Jere said. “It’s not like fighting a conventional vehicle fire or extricating an injured victim from a non-electric vehicle.”
According to the Bureau Labor of Statistics (BLS), the electric vehicle (EV) market increased from 0.2 percent of total car sales in 2011 to 4.6 percent in 2021. A report completed by Auto Insurance EZ analysts last November gathered research from the National Transportation Safety Board and Bureau of Transportation Statistics to conclude that EVs had a roughly 0.3 percent chance of igniting. Many EV fires were caused by lithium-ion battery explosions.
While the data may sound scary, the Auto Insurance EZ report added that lithium-ion battery fires occurred much less frequently than conventional (gasoline) vehicle fires, which posed a 1.05 percent risk. However, it can take tens of thousands of gallons of water to extinguish an EV fire.
Superior Twp. Fire Training Officer Dan Jere and Cloverland Electric Company Director of Operations Paul Warner spoke at the event.
“We covered how lithium-ion batteries work,” Dan Jere said. “They can fail and cause thermal runaway fires in vehicles. A lithium-ion battery during thermal runaway can reach around 5,000 degrees within 30 seconds. The gasses and smoke generated are extremely toxic and dangerous.”
Thermal runaway is a phenomenon in which the lithium-ion cell enters an uncontrollable, self-heating state as a result of chemical reactions in the battery.
Jere reminded all first responders in attendance that lithium-ion batteries are used in everyday equipment, like e-bikes, scooters, and hoverboards. The number one cause of EV fires is overheating and overcharging.
“Anyone with an e-bike or e-scooter needs to know the dangers of having these,” he said. “They need to keep them out of their homes, apartments, dorms or buildings. For example, an e-scooter can catch fire, and within 30 seconds of beginning to smoke, the battery is in a full thermal runaway reaching 5,000 degrees. It can fill a room with toxic gasses and smoke from the fire causing a flashover and potentially blowing out windows. Once the windows are blown out, the room is fully ventilated and creates an environment for the fire to grow dangerously, rapidly.”
These new batteries have changed the way fire departments must respond to and fight fires.
“The fire grows so intensely that the only recommendation is to get away and get safe,” Jere advised the public.
Once in a safe location, far away from possible smoke and gas inhalation, call 911.
The following departments attended the electric vehicle fire training at Smithers Winter Test Center: Superior Township Fire, City of Sault Ste Marie Fire Department, Dafter Fire Department, Rudyard, Soo Township, and Hulbert fire departments, Bay Mills Fire Department, Bay Mills Wildland, Bay Mills Police Department, Bruce Township Fire, Sugar Island Fire, and Kinross EMS.
