I do not think of myself as an expert in my field. However, I have been a laser-focused student of my craft for a number of decades.
A few days before FDIC International 2022, I received a phone call out of the blue from engineers at the new Ford F150 (all electric) Lightning Plant in Dearborn, Michigan. They asked if I could come and meet with them before I taught my workshop at FDIC. Not one to miss an opportunity like that, my wife and I changed our plans and found ourselves in the Lightning Plant the day before I presented at FDIC. The gentlemen at the plant were very cordial and obviously sensed my nervousness. When they told me that they flew us to the plant so that they could “pick my brain” before I taught in Indianapolis, Indiana, my nervousness ascended to another level.
My foray into electric vehicles (EVs), and subsequently EV fire challenges, came as part of the natural progression from my work with new vehicle technology and the rescue and firefighting challenges that come with each new model year of vehicles. Throughout this journey, one of the biggest things that I’ve learned, and continue to learn, is how little we firefighters and first responders know about how these new vehicles are built and what they’re made of. More importantly, which new materials, components, and systems pose dangers and lookouts to those of us in the field?
Fast forward to the advent of the EV. Understandably, most of my colleagues and students were gravely concerned about the electric shock potential and the hazards associated with coming into contact with high-voltage cables and components. Chevrolet first came out with the ill-fated Chevy Volt. Many will remember that, in addition to the fire service not having much information on how to deal with the high-voltage/shock-hazard/high-voltage-disconnect locations, these vehicles had issues of exploding or bursting into flames when involved in various types of accidents. We knew nothing about lithium-ion batteries. All we knew (in hindsight) was that those in charge of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration came up with a permanent solution that still exists today. Its solution was to have automakers enclose lithium-ion vehicle batteries in an ultra-high-strength steel (sealed) box to provide the battery with more protection in the event of a crash. Spoiler alert: That same mandate for the sealed ultra-high-strength steel enclosure around the lithium-ion battery is the reason we cannot get to the seat of an EV battery fire today!
I know that today, every keyboard warrior in the global fire service is an expert on lithium-ion batteries and how they seem to burn. What many of those same warriors still don’t understand is what a lithium-ion battery is, what causes thermal runaway to make these fires look and sound like a cross between a jet engine and a small volcano, what the products and byproducts of combustion of a lithium-ion battery fire are, and what class of fire a lithium-ion battery fire is. Do you know that every drop of water you put on one of these fires is converted into super toxic runoff?
I had firefighters in my FDIC class a couple of years ago who were on scene for fatal EV fires in Texas and Alaska. As I explained what the “science” at that time suggested about the average number of gallons (3,000+) it took for an initial knockdown (not including all of the expected rekindles) of one of these battery fires, students from Texas and Alaska raised their hands like they were on fire. I stopped and called on them because of their urgency to offer great information. The firefighters from Alaska said that they had to flow something in the neighborhood of 45,000 gallons of water for their initial knock. The Texas firefighters blew us all away when they told the class that it took them in excess of 65,000 gallons of water for their initial knock!
Is your department prepared to contain 65,000+ gallons of toxic runoff? Is your department prepared to call a hazmat incident every time a lithium-ion battery lights off? Not only is the runoff water filled with toxins, the smoke and off gases are exponentially more toxic than the water, and they permeate our turnout gear! How much does your department know about which toxins are contained in the aforementioned runoff water and smoke and off gases? Don’t feel bad—most departments in the country have no idea. Additionally, I routinely hear from departments that “it doesn’t matter what they’re made of, how they burn, or what the hazards are, because all we can do is to keep treating them like rolling dumpster fires.” I can’t help but ask these departments, “But, what if the rolling dumpster is full of burning titanium and methyl-ethyl-bad stuff? Are you still going to hit it with water or foam?”
Before I get too far afield, let’s get back to the Ford Lightning plant meeting. I explained to these engineers that I was certainly not an automotive engineer and that I hoped I could help but wasn’t sure how. They gave us an unprecedented (their word) tour of the facility. The robotic assembly line was like nothing I’d seen before. My apologies to the readers, but the one thing that was absolutely forbidden was any photography, as we were given unfettered access to this plant on the day before its official launch. The folks from Ford actually shut down the production line a number of times during our tour to pull one of the robotic carts carrying a partially built truck off of the line at various stages of the build so we could have a question-and-answer pow wow at each of the stations. Several times, my questions caught these knowledgeable engineers off guard. My questions weren’t necessarily crazy in nature, but something I learned from our time together literally blew my doors off—heavy pun intended. I learned that the individuals and teams of engineers we met with that day (typically) deal with very specific Lightning F150 parts, components, or systems. The other thing I learned is that these engineers do not necessarily know anything about parts, components, or systems that don’t pertain to their assigned segment.
At the end of our time together, one of the big bosses (my words) with whom we met shook his head and said that after meeting with us, seeing what types of things were going “sideways” with the lithium-ion battery fires from EVs, and hearing me reiterate firefighter and rescue personnel concerns, he had a much better understanding of what “the root cause” of the industry’s EV challenges was. He said he thought the industry had screwed up with everyone wanting to be “first to market” with the new EV technology, saying, “We started this whole mess from the middle instead of from the beginning.” He went on to share that after speaking with us, he came to understand that not only does this country not yet have the infrastructure (charging stations, repair facilities, etc.) to support the EVs that are being turned out, the industry has put the fire service completely behind the eight ball because of the challenges these vehicles present for us and the general public.
Wrapping this subject up, whether it’s those suggesting that there isn’t anything applicably “new” about new vehicle technology, those fire service experts who are late to the dance who simply parrot other things they’ve heard about EV fires or lithium-ion battery fires, or the engineers at the Ford F150 Lightning plant who trusted a guy like me enough to share sensitive information about their product and pick my brain, there is a chilling common denominator. Both the automotive industries and the fire service started to attempt to understand these topics in the middle. I get the automakers (not just Ford, but all EV makers) trying to be first to market and the fear of missing out. But after all my years studying and teaching fire departments about new vehicle, electric vehicle fire, and extrication challenges, I don’t understand those who don’t think starting in the middle to offer real, safe, and not contraindicated methods and tactics goes against what being an effective trainer or training officer should be about.
CARL J. HADDON is a member of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment Editorial Advisory Board and the director of Five Star Fire Training LLC, which is sponsored, in part, by Volvo North America. He served as assistant chief and fire commissioner for the North Fork (ID) Fire Department and is a career veteran of more than 25 years in the fire and EMS services in southern California. He is a certified Level 2 fire instructor and an ISFSI member and teaches Five Star Auto Extrication and NFPA 610 classes across the country.
