VIDEO/PHOTO: Electric vehicles (EV) can be a major risk if they catch on fire. Retired Everett Fire Captain Gerry O'Hearn has a new invention to fight those fires. He calls it the Gerry Pipe.
"We got to cool down the battery underneath," O'Hearn told WBZ-TV. "The key is no one gets hurt." The trouble with EV fires is their lithium batteries can burn for as long as 24 hours. The battery is typically located on the bottom of the car and can span the length of the vehicle. Since EV cars tend to be extra low to the ground, the batteries can be hard to reach. O'Hearn said sometimes firefighters try to tip the car on its side with their hands.
"In the future, they're hoping to have some type of extinguisher-suppressant on it right, which they can have built right into these automobiles," he said.