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To put in context, 50k gallons is about the size of the largest in-ground pool you might see in the back yard of an upscale suburban home. A normal tanker trail

To put in context, 50k gallons is about the size of the largest in-ground pool you might see in the back yard of an upscale suburban home. A normal tanker trailer you see on the highway carrying gasoline or whatever has a 7,500 gallon capacity, so over six of those. Quite a bit of water to dump on one car.

MBCook 2y ago
Plus it needed an airplane to dump fire retardant.
- jerlam 2y ago
  Cal Fire probably got involved because the cost of battling a wildfire in that area would be astronomically higher than 50k gallons of water.
  - KerrAvon 2y ago
    This is true in _a lot_ of the areas where these trucks will be driving.
- thebruce87m 2y ago
  > Additionally, CAL FIRE used an aircraft to apply fire retardant to the immediate area as a precautionary measure Seems like it was a precaution, rather than needed.
  - moralestapia 2y ago
    If it's part of some protocol then it's definitely needed. Safety measures are put in place for a reason.
  - ceejayoz 2y ago
    Precautions can be needed, like input validation on a web form.
    - thebruce87m 2y ago
      The context is what was required to extinguish the vehicle, and the fire retardant was not specifically required otherwise they would not have called it precautionary after the fact. Was it needed as part of the process in this instance? Yes. Was it needed to extinguish the vehicle in this instance? No.
beanjuiceII 2y ago
they were dumping it on a semi not a car, it seems like fire dept just needs to get more efficient, hopefully they are not trying to fight these fires in the same traditional way
- bell-cot 2y ago
  THIS. A big battery "fire" is not really a fire, in the normal meaning of that word. The job the FD faced might better be described as "supply continuous cooling, until the self-powered/no-oxygen-needed battery meltdown runs low on electrical energy". Though if the FD's training & equipment is for traditional fires - then they are stuck using a "pretend it's a fire, and call in 10 more tanker trucks" playbook.
  - mh- 2y ago
    > until [..] runs low on electrical energy How long will it take for that to happen in one of these semis? What if the fire needs to be extinguished before then because of risks it poses to surroundings?
    - bell-cot 2y ago
      > What if... You're pretty much SoL, because the "fire" is more like a pair of electrical cables that are shorting together. With seriously specialized heavy equipment (and probably an expendable robot or few), you might tap into the semi's electrical system, to drain off some of the electrical energy to a giant resistor. Or chop the battery out of the possibly-mangled semi's structure, and haul it away in a "burning battery containment" truck.
- FireBeyond 2y ago
  As a firefighter/paramedic, pray tell, how would you suggest we "just get more efficient"? Part of the challenge is access, between heat and explosive risk. It's not about being more efficient - it's about kicking out one or more legs of the fire triangle, with water, that being heat and oxygen. The problem is that physics dictates that overcoming the BTUs being put out by a battery fire requires rather a lot of water. Use of other liquids to absorb this heat is ... problematic. One, you have to transport it to the fire, and two, runoff. It's bad enough having structure fire water runoff going to the ground and water supply, let alone another (most likely noxious) chemical.
KerrAvon 2y ago
Legislators really need to come up to speed on Tesla and crack down on this shit. There are going to be many collisions involving these trucks. Doesn't even have to be the fault of the driver or Tesla. That's simply life on the highways.
trailrunner46 2y ago
It's also worth keeping in mind that rural fire departments that all have tanker trucks typically carry only 1,500-3,000 gallons and need to continuously fill up from a pump site, drive to the scene, dump in a pond, and continue. Typical gasoline car fires will take less than 1,000 to extinguish. EVs are challenging from this perspective, and departments are just now starting to learn how to deal with them, it's a whole new ballgame. Source: Firefighter in a rural dept
geepytee 2y ago
To put in context, I'd need to know how many gallons it normally takes to extinguish similar fires. I do agree that's a large volume of water but unclear if it's comparatively a lot?
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]

MBCook 2y ago

Plus it needed an airplane to dump fire retardant.

jerlam 2y ago
Cal Fire probably got involved because the cost of battling a wildfire in that area would be astronomically higher than 50k gallons of water.
- KerrAvon 2y ago
  This is true in _a lot_ of the areas where these trucks will be driving.
thebruce87m 2y ago
> Additionally, CAL FIRE used an aircraft to apply fire retardant to the immediate area as a precautionary measure Seems like it was a precaution, rather than needed.
- moralestapia 2y ago
  If it's part of some protocol then it's definitely needed. Safety measures are put in place for a reason.
- ceejayoz 2y ago
  Precautions can be needed, like input validation on a web form.
  - thebruce87m 2y ago
    The context is what was required to extinguish the vehicle, and the fire retardant was not specifically required otherwise they would not have called it precautionary after the fact. Was it needed as part of the process in this instance? Yes. Was it needed to extinguish the vehicle in this instance? No.

beanjuiceII 2y ago

they were dumping it on a semi not a car, it seems like fire dept just needs to get more efficient, hopefully they are not trying to fight these fires in the same traditional way

bell-cot 2y ago
THIS. A big battery "fire" is not really a fire, in the normal meaning of that word. The job the FD faced might better be described as "supply continuous cooling, until the self-powered/no-oxygen-needed battery meltdown runs low on electrical energy". Though if the FD's training & equipment is for traditional fires - then they are stuck using a "pretend it's a fire, and call in 10 more tanker trucks" playbook.
- mh- 2y ago
  > until [..] runs low on electrical energy How long will it take for that to happen in one of these semis? What if the fire needs to be extinguished before then because of risks it poses to surroundings?
  - bell-cot 2y ago
    > What if... You're pretty much SoL, because the "fire" is more like a pair of electrical cables that are shorting together. With seriously specialized heavy equipment (and probably an expendable robot or few), you might tap into the semi's electrical system, to drain off some of the electrical energy to a giant resistor. Or chop the battery out of the possibly-mangled semi's structure, and haul it away in a "burning battery containment" truck.
FireBeyond 2y ago
As a firefighter/paramedic, pray tell, how would you suggest we "just get more efficient"? Part of the challenge is access, between heat and explosive risk. It's not about being more efficient - it's about kicking out one or more legs of the fire triangle, with water, that being heat and oxygen. The problem is that physics dictates that overcoming the BTUs being put out by a battery fire requires rather a lot of water. Use of other liquids to absorb this heat is ... problematic. One, you have to transport it to the fire, and two, runoff. It's bad enough having structure fire water runoff going to the ground and water supply, let alone another (most likely noxious) chemical.

KerrAvon 2y ago

Legislators really need to come up to speed on Tesla and crack down on this shit. There are going to be many collisions involving these trucks. Doesn't even have to be the fault of the driver or Tesla. That's simply life on the highways.

trailrunner46 2y ago

It's also worth keeping in mind that rural fire departments that all have tanker trucks typically carry only 1,500-3,000 gallons and need to continuously fill up from a pump site, drive to the scene, dump in a pond, and continue. Typical gasoline car fires will take less than 1,000 to extinguish. EVs are challenging from this perspective, and departments are just now starting to learn how to deal with them, it's a whole new ballgame. Source: Firefighter in a rural dept

geepytee 2y ago

To put in context, I'd need to know how many gallons it normally takes to extinguish similar fires. I do agree that's a large volume of water but unclear if it's comparatively a lot?

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]