In the early hours of the morning, a white Tesla collided with a tree on State Route 128 at mile marker 22.7, resulting in a significant fire. Anderson Valley Fire Chief Andres Avila provided details on the incident, noting that the initial dispatch came in at 4:54 a.m. “Upon arrival, we found a Tesla fully involved in flames, with the driver already outside the vehicle,” said Avila. The driver, who sustained leg and back injuries, was given medical care and flown to a nearby trauma center.
The fire posed unique challenges to the Anderson Valley firefighters due to the nature of electric vehicle (EV) batteries. “The batteries are very difficult to extinguish because of the way they break down and the challenges in cooling them,” Avila explained.
EV fires are caused by cell rupture and thermal runaway, where lithium-ion cells react violently to air and water, potentially causing explosive reactions. This can lead to a chain reaction, with multiple cells igniting at different rates, making it hard for firefighters to determine when the fire is fully extinguished.
The environmental impact is also significant, as EV battery fires require enormous amounts of water to control—up to 28,000 gallons, compared to just 300 gallons for petrol fires, according to motorbiscuit.com.
Firefighters used special tools to mitigate these challenges, including devices that slide under the vehicle to cool the batteries and blankets to smother the flames. Despite the difficulty, the fire was controlled and did not spread to the wildland.
The response required coordination with Caltrans to clear the roadway. “We had a hard closure and used a loader to move the vehicle off the road, enabling one-way traffic control,” Avila noted. The scene was declared clear by 8:08 a.m., allowing normal traffic to resume.
Avila emphasized the importance of the volunteer firefighters who responded to the incident. “Our county could not have the service it has without our volunteers. They work hard and keep our community protected, often getting out of bed to respond to emergencies before most people are awake,” he said. The community’s support of these volunteers is crucial, as they perform their duties for free and often go unrecognized.
Though EV fires pose a challenge to extinguish, they do not appear to be more common than fuel-combustion vehicle fires. An InHook article noted that Battelle, a nonprofit research and development organization, concluded from their study that the likelihood and intensity of fires and explosions caused by the accidental ignition of flammable electrolytic solvents in Li-ion batteries are expected to be similar to, or slightly less than, those involving gasoline or diesel fuels.
[…] County news says their road had to be closed for three hours to battle the […]
The EV face saving bit at the end of this report uses a study done three years ago. Probably out of date already. But if not, it’s useful to know that our government doesn’t keep track of car fires by type of vehicle so no one knows. It is also true that EVs constitute only a fraction of all cars on the road so it is to be expected that there are fewer overall instances of EV fires. What is true is that an EV fire puts an extra burden on local fire agencies that car owners do not pay for.
The NFPA (National Fire Protection Association), in fact, does track EV fires & Gasoline fires, as well as the causes and outcomes of varying extinguishing methods, in automobiles of all kinds.
I find it sad that so many are willing to operate upon false assumptions rather than do just a little bit of due diligence so that they can form opinions based on facts and empirical evidence rather than unfounded and presumptuous fictions.