It just ties up resources a lot longer, and in some cases where we don’t have a water source, we have to secure the area and let them burn.”Īdditional fires could be coming. “And these we’re finding take hours to cool the batteries to keep them out of a runaway situation. “A typical car fire in the past would be one tank of water from our engine and would be less than an hour job. The fires continue to tax department resources, Hammond said, given the intensity of a battery pack fire. North Collier Assistant Fire Chief James Hammond told Fox BusinessFriday morning that crews there had so far responded to 10 EV fires that resulted after the cars’ battery packs were submerged in floodwaters. Other EVs have caught fire following the deadly hurricane. A woman is overheard in the 31-second clip stating that two fire engines with a total of 1,500 gallons of water had failed to put out the fire and that they had since connected a fire hose to a nearby hydrant to continue dousing the smoldering car with water.

Patronis tweeted a video (see below) of the car surrounded by Collier County firefighters as they attempt to extinguish the blaze. While assessing storm damage Thursday in Southwest Florida, an area hit especially hard by the Category 4 storm, Florida Chief Financial Officer and State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis learned firsthand of a burning Tesla in the area that had been flooded by storm surge over week prior on Sept. EVs left flooded in Florida following Hurricane Ian led to numerous powertrain battery fires that have fire officials there on edge.

Battery guard