Hybrid Electric Vehicle Fire Drew Reading, Stoneham Response: FD

READING, MA — A fire in a hybrid electric vehicle drew crews from Stoneham and Reading to I-93 earlier this month, the Reading Firefighters Local 1640 union announced last week.

Crews were able to eventually beat back flames. The blaze left the impacted car with major damage, though, as shown in photos from Local 1640.

In separate comments to Patch on Friday, Reading Fire Chief Greg Burns confirmed the fire took place in Stoneham on Nov. 6. Reading fire personnel aided on scene, Burns said.

Where local crews completed this response, this fire came as some fire experts have noted new challenges posed by the proliferation of electric vehicles and large scale battery technology.

“Electric vehicles are becoming a problem for firefighters nationwide,” Local 1640 said last week.

This past weekend, our crews responded to a Hybrid Electric Vehicle fire on 93 South. Electric Vehicles are becoming a problem for firefighters nationwide. Knowing the challenge they faced, Reading and Stoneham crews teamed up to attack the fire. pic.twitter.com/iQkAdMZnEA
— Reading Fire Local 1640 (@Readingfire) November 9, 2022

Electric vehicles and related technology have been on the rise in terms of consumer popularity in recent years, with many people making the shift away from older gas-powered car options.

Advocates have promoted the switch as a way to mitigate emissions in light of climate change.

For firefighters, this has translated to a new kind of fire threat on roadways.

Fires in electric vehicles are less common than fires in gas counterparts, according to a CNBC report in January, which cited data from the research firm AutoinsuranceEZ. Hybrid electric fires, though, are more common, according to the same reporting.

When vehicle batteries fires do ignite, they can burn hotter and longer than a typical car fire, demanding different logistics responses from emergency crews, as noted in a 2021 report by the National Fire Prevention Association. The fires can also require unique firefighting attacks as firefighters work to directly cool smoldering batteries often located on the underside of vehicles, the report said.

Federal investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board have been to various electric vehicle accident sites in recent years, issuing a report in 2020 geared specifically toward first responders and the dangers they might face in addressing electric vehicle fires in their communities.

Training and new guidelines around emerging electric vehicle fire risks, the safety board found, are crucial for various departments.

“It’s a lot of new stuff and it causes different challenges for us,” Stoneham Fire Chief Matt Grafton told Patch earlier this year.

Local crews, he said, have indeed moved forward with training on how to respond to electric vehicle fires.

“It’s a whole other story,” Grafton said of current challenges.

Massachusetts is looking to entirely phase out the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035.

In the case of this month's fire in Stoneham, Burns said there were no injuries, citing an incident report.