Handling flammable metals fires by burying the fire load in sand is not uncommon. As other people have mentioned, there are special extinguishing agents out the

Handling flammable metals fires by burying the fire load in sand is not uncommon. As other people have mentioned, there are special extinguishing agents out there that handle flammable metals (Class D) fires, but they're expensive, and not all fire departments have them. And many departments that don't specialize in industrial response may have a Class D extinguisher or two, but nowhere near enough extinguishing agent to handle a large fire. OTOH, large industrial plants often have their on on-site fire brigades that have specialized equipment and training specifically around the unique hazards found at their facilities. Not sure what the situation was here at the Tesla plant. But I can say that if my old volunteer department in a mostly rural part of NC had ever encountered a large flammable metals fire (the most likely scenario would probably have involved something in transport, and a motor vehicle collision), we would almost certainly have started requesting dump truck loads of sand, and a front-end loader.