OLD ORCHARD BEACH, Maine — As electrical vehicles are becoming more prevalent on our roadways, fire departments are learning how to best stop EV fires.
On Friday, Old Orchard Beach fire crews finished training on new gear specifically designed to handle EV fires. The department recently purchased a special nozzle and fire blanket to help contain these types of fires, according to Old Orchard Beach Deputy Fire Chief Clif Whitten.
Whitten said EV fires tend to burn hotter and longer than traditional vehicle fires and take more water to extinguish.
"One of the issues with EV fires is when they involve the battery components of the vehicle is they are very difficult to extinguish," Whitten said. "Where a traditional vehicle fire might take a thousand gallons of water in a few minutes, if the battery components of that [electric] vehicle are involved, you're talking about hours of fire suppression and tens of thousands of gallons of water."
In the case of an EV fire, firefighters would place the special nozzle underneath the car to cool the battery, then put the blanket on top of the vehicle to try to extinguish the fire.
Whitten said his department has seen more fires involving electric golf carts or scooters than EVs but said training for the situation is critical as more people choose EVs.
"I would expect as they start to age, we'll start to see more problems with battery cells, more problems with those vehicles, and that rate of incidents is probably going to increase. For us to be prepared for that now is very important," he said.
