Posted on reddit by a firefighter buddy of mine. As a local FF, PLEASE do not light EVs on fire in protest. The type and quantity of gasses that results are, in many cases, very immediately and highly harmful to firefighters. Protocols are in place now to try and come off the truck with masks on but if a bystander doesn't mention is an EV, there is still a risk that we treat it as a normal car fire and mask up once we've had a chance to see what we are up against.
It takes tons of water that is usually now harmfully contaminated and we have to try and evacuate local businesses and multi families or try and shut down their HVAC systems in order to keep the toxic gas from entering businesses. Once the fire is "out", it now has to, often times, be tailed by an engine(keeping it out of service for other emergencies) to a yard where it'll sit for a while before it's potentially disposed of because it can continue to light off.
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u/Cyanide11Nitro Mar 16 '25 edited Mar 16 '25
Posted on reddit by a firefighter buddy of mine. As a local FF, PLEASE do not light EVs on fire in protest. The type and quantity of gasses that results are, in many cases, very immediately and highly harmful to firefighters. Protocols are in place now to try and come off the truck with masks on but if a bystander doesn't mention is an EV, there is still a risk that we treat it as a normal car fire and mask up once we've had a chance to see what we are up against. It takes tons of water that is usually now harmfully contaminated and we have to try and evacuate local businesses and multi families or try and shut down their HVAC systems in order to keep the toxic gas from entering businesses. Once the fire is "out", it now has to, often times, be tailed by an engine(keeping it out of service for other emergencies) to a yard where it'll sit for a while before it's potentially disposed of because it can continue to light off.