MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

While electric cars, bikes, skateboards and scooters are now sharing the streets and trails with their internal combustion engine-powered predecessors, the influx of lithium-ion battery powered devices has created a multitude of challenges for first responders.

In July an electric transit bus in Connecticut burst into flames while parked at a depot. A month later, an electric scooter sparked a fire inside a New York City apartment killing a 5-year-old girl and 36-year-old woman. In January, a fire believed to be caused by the batteries in an electric scooter tore through a multifamily home in Massachusetts. And multiple electric vehicle fires have been reported across our entire country including recent incidents in the Washington suburbs and even on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

In 2012, MFRI in conjunction with various manufacturers and the NFPA conducted some early testing on the first-generation batteries for hybrid electric cars. The initial testing was to determine if batteries would conduct an electrical charge through a hose stream as firefighters extinguished car fires. It was concluded that there was no electric current conducted through the hose stream during firefighting operations. Although not part of the testing, the participants did discover these lithium-ion batteries burned at a high temperature and would even spontaneously reignite more than 12 hours after the testing was concluded.

Studies have shown that when lithium batteries overheat or fail, they release toxic gasses that further fuel the fire making them extremely challenging to extinguish. In a recent study, UL Fire Safety Research Institute staged a house with everything found in a typical home and rigged it with cameras that measure heat and gasses. The researchers intentionally forced a lithiumion battery to fail. After two hours transpired there was smoke, 17 seconds later the battery exploded and buckled the windows of the house, and 12 minutes later the house was engulfed in flames.

In addition to speed, lithium battery-fueled fires have significant strength. In 2019, two Arizona fire captains responded to a call where thousands of lithium batteries were used for energy storage. The batteries exploded sending one of the responders more than 30 feet from the site. Both suffered brain trauma, multiple burns and broken bones.

The National Transportation Safety Board says that it is continuing to conduct strategies for first responders while the National Fire Protection Association is trying to address the growing demand for training. Likewise, MFRI is beginning the process of creating a new firefighting training program that includes all alternative fuels. This program will help Maryland firefighters identify the different types of alternative-fueled transportation devices and the tactics required to control such incidents.

MICHAEL E. COX JR.