Firefighting Considerations for Electric Vehicle Fires – Podcast with Jason Loyd, Justin Fryer and Jason Harris

COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS – Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service’s (TEEX) Emergency Service Training Institute (ESTI) released a new episode on their Emergency Management Podcast  about Firefighting Considerations for Electric Vehicle Fires.

In this episode, host Jason Loyd chats with TEEX Rescue Program Training Specialist Jason Harris and Recruit Academy Agency Instructor Justin Fryer on the rise of electric-powered vehicles traveling on roadways and presenting new types of challenges to firefighters. Fryer shares his personal experience about the challenges, strategies, and tactics his department has experienced when responding to a vehicle fire that involved a Tesla.

“Upon our arrival, the car was fully involved, probably 10 to 20’ flames coming from it. I didn’t realize that it was an electric car until a few minutes into the situation. We’re all taught to fight a car fire a certain way. Typically, we’re going to have to make access to the engine compartment, but this is a different animal. You’ve basically got a tray underneath that car, at least on a Tesla, and, I’m talking about the entire undercarriage of that vehicle is a big tray full of thousands of batteries.  As it burns, it’s creating an exothermic reaction. So, the way to think about it is, one battery is setting off the next, is setting off the next, and so on, and you’re posed with a challenge of how do I stop this reaction,” explained Fryer.

This episode is available on Apple Podcast, Spotify and iHeartRadio applications by searching for TEEX Podcast. Or you can listen through https://firetalk.teex.org/podcasts/ or Firefighting Considerations for Electric Vehicle Fires – YouTube

Each episode in this series features subject matter professionals discussing strategies and techniques for fire and emergency services professionals to consider as they prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters.

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