The January/February2020 edition of the NFPA Journal devotes 12 pages to a discussion of the firefighting hazards associated with fires in electric vehicles (EV) and energy storage systems (ESS). The articles outline both the problems faced by firefighters with these newer concepts and the groups, including the Society of Automotive Engineers, the Fire Protection Research Foundation and the NFPA, which are researching long-term solutions.
The issue is one of growing importance for first responders – but it’s also one with ever-evolving hazards and response recommendations.
Here, we’ll catalog existing resources, including the most recent NFPA information and my previous series on this topic, which outlines the potential hazards of EVs and ESS and the tactics employed both in the United States and Europe to help mitigate these hazards and attempt to make these scenes safer for you, as responding firefighter/paramedics.