Just The News
California firefighters used about 50,000 gallons of water to put out a Tesla Semi fire after a collision, the National Transportation Safety Board said on Thursday.
According to the Associated Press, an aircraft also dropped fire retardant on the “immediate area” to bring the fire under control, the agency reported.
The battery hit temperatures of 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit while it was on fire.
The truck hit a tree while going around a curve on Aug. 19. Tesla’s autopilot feature was not engaged, according to the agency report.
The NTSB said it would examine the battery for potential issues that pose fire risks.
If there is anything left of that battery for the NTSB to investigate.
Yep, great for the environment. LOL
Seems like an awfully stupid way to save the planet.
Now that one incidence could actually raise the temperature of the planet noticeably.
How many Tesla semis have been made?
One too many.
You mean other than cramming into a box enough electrical energy to power a cargo-laden semi-trailer? That’s not enough to ask WTF?
@Uncle Al
That, and the lithium chemistry in the batteries includes its own oxygen, so it can combust without exposure to air. So in reality the firefighters are just there to keep the fire from spreading until all the chemical energy in the batteries dissipates as fire.
Closed the major east/west freeway both ways for more than half a day.
…I never fought an EV fire but I fought many an ICE fire, and we never used more than 500 gallons on one and usually used far, FAR less.
Its kind of a big deal because most pumpers carry 1000-1500 gallons, and theres no hydrants on the Interstate for obvious reasons; so if you need more, youre going to have to futz around with a tanker shuttle, and thats more time and more manpower because youre probably going to have 2 tankers, a basin, and a pumper at the hydrant/pond/whatever to feed the tankers, so thats manpower and vehicles and multiple alarms (not every department has its own tankers), and for water tankers schlepping 1,000-3,000 gallons around at a time, thats a WHOLE lotta trips to the well to get to 50,000…and because CA wrecked all their dams, that’s 50,000 gallons of potable water you just poisioned for ONE incident, but that’s a different subject for another day…
Dat’s right JETHRO, They burn until
they stop burning…
Based on past experience with EV battery fires, you would think that the government pushing this baloney and the local fire departments would eventually realize that wasting 10 times the amount of water to attempt to put out a fire is a bad look for environmentalists and a total waste of what I thought was a precious resource.
How about a giant fire blanket that cuts of the oxygen? Or better yet, ban EVs as hazardous to the world.
Stop the World I Want to Get Off
Saturday, 14 September 2024, 11:43 at 11:43 am
“How about a giant fire blanket that cuts of the oxygen?”
…they exist. Just not truck sized. And it doesnt really solve the problem, just makes it manageable.
https://youtu.be/qgP7KkDesBo?si=CbYGTcE1XW-frPbP&t=4m35s
…heres more detail on this truck fire…
https://youtu.be/-al_gJoxPzQ?si=0DLwslEnERW4iKd0
“All the alkali metals react vigorously or explosively with cold water, producing an aqueous solution of a strongly basic alkali metal hydroxide and releasing hydrogen gas.”
“When an alkali metal is dropped into water, it produces an explosion, of which there are two separate stages. The metal reacts with the water first, breaking the hydrogen bonds in the water and producing hydrogen gas; this takes place faster for the more reactive heavier alkali metals. Second, the heat generated by the first part of the reaction often ignites the hydrogen gas, causing it to burn explosively into the surrounding air.” Wikipedia
It seems using water to put out an EV fire isn’t too much different than using gasoline to put out an ICE fire.
SNS 1k to 1.5k pumpers—Around here most are 500 gal with a few 750s.
Airport fire departments typically use foam to fight aircraft fires which often include some amounts of magnesium, which burns extremely hot and cannot be extinguished with water alone.
Anonymous
Saturday, 14 September 2024, 14:35 at 2:35 pm
“SNS 1k to 1.5k pumpers—Around here most are 500 gal with a few 750s.”
…the only one we had at 500 in my time was on a Quint which wasnt something you’d use for car fires, all 3 of our pumpers had 1000 and the rural FDs, whose whole approach to firefighting was different, had the 1500s.
And foam doesnt help on these fires for the same reason water doesnt. It cant get inside the battery box where the thermal runaway is.
I remember seeing a live demonstration of a magnesium fire in boot camp. They showed it to us because so many parts of ships and naval aircraft are made from magnesium or an alloy thereof and wanted us to know the dangers of magnesium fires and what to do and not to do around such fires. Needless to say, you don’t want to mess with a magnesium fire and know how to extinguish it properly. Phosphorous fires are also extremely dangerous and burn extremely hot as well.