SFD.081 - Battery and Electric Vehicle Fires PDF

# Fire Department / Harris County ESD No. 7 ## **Standard Operating Line** ### SFD.081 **Mission Critical** ## Battery and Electric Vehicle Fires **Revision No.** 0 **Issue Date** 8 Aug. 2024 **Effective Date** 8 Aug. 2024 **Review Date** 1 Aug. 2025 **Approved by:** Scott C. Seifert **Operatio...

# Fire Department / Harris County ESD No. 7 ## **Standard Operating Line** ### SFD.081 **Mission Critical** ## Battery and Electric Vehicle Fires **Revision No.** 0 **Issue Date** 8 Aug. 2024 **Effective Date** 8 Aug. 2024 **Review Date** 1 Aug. 2025 **Approved by:** Scott C. Seifert **Operation Reviewed by** S ### **1. Executive Summary** - Initial operations should include conferring with the Incident Commander and determining if any individuals need to be rescued or evacuated. - Batteries should always be treated as energized, and contact with high voltage components should be avoided. - The **ACRE (Assess, Control Hazards, Rescue, Evacuate)** approach should be used for quick evaluation of the incident scene. - Control hazards by securing the area, isolating and denying entry, and establishing control zones based on hazards. - Rescue operations should use appropriate methods and equipment to separate unprotected personnel and civilians from hazards. - Risk assessment for battery emergencies should consider the hazards, the ability to control them, the likelihood of harm, and the expected benefit of intervention. - For electric vehicles, consult the manufacturer guide, consider non-intervention for fire involvement, and protect infrastructure and adjacent property. ### **2. Purpose** - The purpose of this SOG is to provide a framework for personnel responding to incidents involving batteries, electric vehicles, and/or electrical storage systems (ESS). ### **3. Scope** - This guideline applies to all members. ### **4. Definitions** - See Glossary. ### **5. Procedures and Responsibilities** - Initial Operations - Confer with Incident Commander - Immediate Rescue - Determine if any individuals/occupants must be rescued or evacuated - Minimum PPE for rescue is structure fire PPE and SCBA - Any immediate rescue will require water decontamination - Consider adding the following: - District Chief - Safety Officer - Haz Mat Team - Additional units due to extended operations - Rehab - Rescue - PIO - Batteries should always be treated as energized. Do not make contact with any high voltage components. - Assess - Quick evaluation of the incident scene to understand the nature and extent of the emergency. Look for signs of elevated temperatures, check for hazardous materials, and identify the types of batteries involved. - Coin Cell Ingestion - Contact National Battery Ingestion Hotline (1-800-498-8666) - Try to obtain battery type and size - Request EMS as transport is indicated - Note Hazards - Components that have elevated temperatures - LEL readings - Carbon Monoxide (CO) readings - Oxygen (O2) readings below 20.8% - Fumes - Odors - Leaking fluids - Types of batteries involved: - Primary (alkaline - not rechargeable) - Secondary (rechargeable) - Any technical specialists that are responding or have been requested - Indications of high hazard operations - Obvious fire involvement of any battery, battery pack or ESS - Visible or audible off-gassing by a battery, battery pack or ESS - Any LEL readings (that cannot be otherwise explained) - Any CO readings (that cannot be otherwise explained) - Elevated temperatures of battery, battery pack or ESS (that cannot be otherwise explained) - Fire impingement to exposure battery or in same compartment as fire - Physical damage to a battery, battery pack or ESS - Liquid leaks, pooling, etc. - Control Hazards - Focus on securing the area by controlling any immediate hazards to prevent further escalation of the emergency - Isolate and deny entry - Establish isolation and control zones based on hazards - Ensure use of PPE and Respiratory Protection - Ventilate to reduce build-up of explosive and toxic gases - Reduce heat stress to additional batteries/cells - Rescue - Water is most effective to reduce heat - Use appropriate methods and equipment to separate unprotected personnel and civilians from the current and potential hazards - Evacuate - Remove any victim(s) to an area of safe refuge - Provide appropriate decontamination to victims - Risk Assessment - An effective risk assessment for battery emergencies must consider the following: - Hazard(s) victims and personnel are exposed to - Ability of the Hazardous Materials Team and fire personnel to control the hazard(s) - Likelihood that hazard(s) will cause harm or death - Expected benefit of intervention - Risk Mitigation - Refer to Specific Battery Considerations and consult current technical guides and other appropriate material - Consult technical specialist where available - Develop and communicate Incident Objectives - Receive approval from Incident Commander to implement incident objectives - Consult and request outside agencies to assist - Work with reporting party and establish and ensure a plan for disposing of damaged batteries - Primary Battery Considerations - Disposable Alkaline - Consider standard extinguishment techniques (water, dry chem, CO2) - Consider Alkaline (base) hazard from large quantities of these batteries - Consider small Mercury (Hg) hazard in pre-1990 batteries - Disposable Lithium Metal - Water may suppress small Lithium fires and lithium metal consumed in first few minutes - Consider Class D Agent if available - Copper Preferred, Graphite is effective - SODIUM CHLORIDE IS NOT EFFECTIVE - Identify battery electrolyte used for toxicity and environmental hazards that may need mitigated - Secondary Battery Considerations - Lead Acid Battery - Meter for LEL and CO - Consider dry chemical for fire suppression - Consult SDS when possible - Consider neutralization for spills - Lithium-Ion Batteries - Consider allowing batteries involved in fire to burn out in a safe area - Extinguish visible fire with water or other appropriate extinguishing agent - Always ensure a charged handline or appropriate extinguishing mechanism in place when near a battery that was exposed to thermal, physical, or electrical abuse - Ventilate area - Cool adjacent battery cells with water - Use a thermal imager to observe battery cells - Consider unplugging batteries that are connected to a charger - Removal from inside an area to an outside space should be done with a full risk assessment. - Consider the overpack of batteries involved prior to moving outside to a safe area - Consider removing the battery pack with proper cutting tools/equipment - Consider using an appropriate fire blanket/cover over batteries during the removal - If unable to overpack safely inside a structure or confined area: - Establish a path of travel to remove batteries - Suppression capability in place throughout the entire path of travel - NEVER ALLOW PERSONS IN AN ELEVATOR WITH A BATTERY OF CONCERN - Cover the battery or batteries with a fire blanket or use a specialty fire bag if possible, during movement outside - Damaged battery cells should be placed into a battery containment device/overpack when possible - Check the area of involvement for battery cells that may have been ejected from a battery pack. These should be considered damaged. - Electric Vehicles (EV) - Any incident involving an EV needs to evaluate the involvement of the battery pack that powers the vehicle - Consult the manufacturer guide for the type of vehicle involved when available - Consider non-intervention for fire involvement after appropriate risk assessment - If an operational decision is made to allow the vehicle(s) to free burn, efforts should be made to protect infrastructure (buildings, roads,etc.) along with adjacent property - Place wheel chocks to prevent vehicle from moving - In the event of fire, thermal runaway, or battery pack involvement where non-intervention is not feasible: - Protect exposures and control any visible EV fire with water - Consider utilizing EV Nozzle for suppression and cooling - Consider deploying EV fire blanket to suppress flames and reduce smoke production - Continuously cool battery cells involved in fire and prepare for extended water supply operations - Consider chocking the wheels - Use a Thermal Imager to check additional battery cells for propagation - Consider lifting/titling the vehicle if safe to do so for direct access to battery modules for cooling - Consider water supply requirements - Perform air monitoring for flammable vapors in enclosed or partially enclosed areas - For vehicles in a garage or other enclosed area, work with towing or in some cases technical rescue personnel to establish a plan for removing the EV to a safe area outside - Consider a plan to move the vehicle to a safe area with no exposures when possible. - Work with law enforcement and towing personnel to establish a plan to safely remove vehicle from incident scene - Ensure no fire or signs of thermal runaway/heating are present for at least 45 minutes before releasing the vehicle for towing, investigation, etc. - Advise that the vehicle should be placed in an area at least 50' from exposures on all sides in the event of re-ignition - If the electric or hybrid vehicle is burned or has damage to battery cells, the county contractors [Milstead, Humble Towing, or Apple Towing] (at the direction of HCSO) will be responsible for towing the vehicle. - The storage lot it is taken to cannot refuse storage of the vehicle on a "law enforcement slip". - Harris County Sheriff's Office requests that a vehicle(s) NOT TO BE MOVED if the vehicle(s) are involved in a fatality incident. - Interior Energy Storage Systems (ESS) - Work with Incident Commander to ensure: - Appropriate fire suppression tactics for building involved - Size, number, and locations of interior ESSs involved - Deny Entry and Establish Control Zones that account for the ESS - Accounting for explosion or additional fire hazards - Establish air monitoring for flammable and toxic gas build-up within the area of involvement and structure - Pay special attention to LEL and CO - Ventilate area of involvement - Restrict operations in an ESS hot zone to immediate life safety needs with full structural PPE and SCBA with handline protection - Immediately contact the responsible party (RP) or any emergency numbers listed for the ESS facility and ensure ESS technical specialists are enroute to the scene - Consider setting-up to provide exposure protection - Work with Incident Commander, RP, and Technical Specialists for a mitigation plan - Exterior Energy Storage Systems (ESS) - Isolate, Deny Entry, and Establish Control Zones that account for the size of the ESS and any explosion or fire hazards - Restrict operations in an ESS hot zone to immediate life safety needs and complete in full structural PPE and SCBA with handline protection - Immediately contact the RP or any emergency numbers listed for the ESS facility and ensure ESS technical specialists are enroute to the scene - Protect exposures and control any visible fire with water if appropriate - Work with the Incident Commander, RP, and Technical Specialists on a mitigation plan - Consider contacting technical specialist assistance - Exposure Medical Care - Patients exposed to the inhalation of smoke from a battery fire should be evaluated by the appropriate emergency medical personnel and transported to the appropriate facility - Consult SDS when available for health information and provided to medical and hospital personnel - In the absence of specific information for the battery involved, consult current reference material and air monitoring tables to help identify specific inhalation hazards - Decontamination - When available, consult the SDS or a technical expert provided for each battery hazard - Decontaminate as necessary - At a minimum for a battery fire event, standard structural fire decontamination procedures should occur for any personnel that engage in firefighting or entry operations into a designated hot zone - Consider technical decontamination for incidents involving corrosive contamination ### **6. References & Related Policies** ### **7. Contact Office** - The appropriate contact office for questions or comments on this SOG is: - Company Officer - District Chief - Deputy Chief of Operations - Assistant Chief - Fire Chief ### **8. List of Changes** | **Revision No.** | **Description of Changes** | **Approved by** | **Effective Date** | |---|---|---|---| ### **9. Errors** - See something wrong? Click here or use this QR code to submit an error or inconsistency. This policy is for internal use only and does not enlarge a member’s legal duty or civil liability in any way. This policy should not be construed as creating a duty to act or a higher duty of care, with respect to third-party civil claims against members or the department. A violation of this policy, if proven, can only form the basis of a complaint by this department for non-judicial administrative action in accordance with the laws governing member discipline.