Assistant Chief McCarthy shares safety tips on lithium-ion batteries.
Check lithium-ion-powered vehicles and devices regularly for damage. And make sure to use manufacturer-sanctioned chargers, rather than potentially unsafe off-brand replacements.
Top fire department officials delivered that advice during a City Hall workshop focused on how to prevent explosions of increasingly ever-present lithium-ion batteries, which power everything from electric cars and bikes and scooters to laptops and smartphones.
City Fire Chief John Alston and Assistant First Chief Justin McCarthy offered those tips during a Tuesday evening workshop on electric car safety held by the Board of Alders Public Safety Committee in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall.
Two local legislators — retired police captain, vintage car enthusiast and Quinnipiac Meadows Alder Gerald Antunes and electrician and Morris Cove Alder Sal DeCola — called for the workshop out of a concern about the potential for electric cars to catch fire.
The workshop followed a July incident in which a CTTransit electric bus erupted in flames in Hamden. As WNPR reported, the blaze burned for hours — because lithium battery fires are particularly difficult to put out — until nothing but the bare steel bones of the bus were left. As of early November, the state’s dozen electric buses have remained out of service while CTTransit investigates the summer fire.
Nevertheless, electric cars have a relatively low chance of exploding compared to other automobiles. According to a recent AutoinsuranceEZ analysis, hybrid cars are the most likely type of vehicle to catch fire, followed by gas-powered cars, and then electric cars; at a rate of 25.1 fires per 100,000 cars, electric vehicles are more than 60 times less likely to catch fire than gas vehicles.
Laura Glesby photo
Chief Alston presents footage of electric car combustions, with technological assistance from Legislative Services Director Al Lucas (pictured).
While electric vehicles are less likely to combust, the fires are becoming more frequent as electric vehicles become more popular, and “the intensity can be devastating,” Antunes said on Tuesday. Fires originating from lithium-ion batteries “burn hotter, faster, and require far more water … and the batteries can re-ignite.”
Fire Chief Alston confirmed this assessment. It takes 10,000 gallons of water to extinguish and sufficiently cool down an exploded battery, he said; fire trucks typically carry 500 gallons of water.
Firefighters also have to consider the potential toxins involved in a battery fire.
In the case of the Hamden bus fire last July, Alston said, firefighters initially withheld water because they were concerned that runoff could contaminate the Quinnipiac River. (The river was later tested and determined to be clean, Alston said.)
Alston played video after video during Tuesday’s hearing of dramatic electric car, e‑bike, and e‑scooter explosions. He shared part of a Donut Media Youtube video, “Why Tesla Fires Are Impossible To Put Out,” which explained that the compact design and highly flammable electrolyte solution within the battery makes it particularly prone to exploding.
According to Assistant Chief McCarthy, fire departments across the country are preparing for a rise in lithium-ion battery fires. “We are responding to a national trend,” he told the Independent. Nearby New York City has seen an uptick, and the public housing authority there even at one point considered banning e‑bikes from their premises out of concern about potential fire hazards.
New Haven does not currently track the number of fires started by lithium-ion batteries, McCarthy said. “It’s something that we’re discussing” for the future.
DeCola argued that New Haven may be particularly vulnerable to electric fire damage, because “most of our housing is old” and many tenants have “absentee landlords” who may not keep their buildings up to fire code.
Technology specifically designed to combat electric vehicle fires is in the works, Alston said. That includes an extinguishing device-in-progress called the “Turtle,” which the New Haven Fire Department helped test. The water-spraying device, which is still in development, would enable firefighters to target the underbelly of electric cars, where the batteries are typically located, while cooling a broader area around the car and ideally containing the fire.
Fire Chief John Alston: As tech develops, the NHFD is focusing on education.
Meanwhile, the Fire Department is working on public education initiatives — like the video above — about battery-related safety tips.
According to Assistant Chief McCarthy, battery-powered device users should avoid secondhand or off-brand chargers; charge vehicles like electric bikes safely, ideally out of the home; regularly examine devices for possible damage; and report any irregularities to the fire department.
“We’re not against electric vehicles or the use of lithium ion batteries,” McCarthy said. “We just want to make sure people are aware that there are hazards.”
The committee alders had no questions for the fire department; they voted to “read and file” the workshop.