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More e-cars on the streets – how do the fire brigade train?
The increasing number of e-cars on the roads poses new challenges for fire departments. Dealing with burning batteries is still new for many firefighters.
A car appears to be on fire on the outskirts of the small community of Sankt Leon-Rot. White and black smoke rises in the blue summer sky. The fire brigade is on site and is trying to extinguish the car.
Normally a piece of cake for the 17 firefighters from Sankt Leon-Rot and neighboring communities. But the men are breaking new ground, because the smoking vehicle has a lithium-ion battery.
training is in high demand
So far, many of the more than 43,000 fire brigades nationwide have not yet gained any practical experience with burning electric cars. In this case it is a patented training vehicle from the Maulbronn company “Q4Flo”. The training courses are in great demand. Thomas Wassersleben, a member of the volunteer fire brigade, also turned up at the Sankt-Leon-Roter fire station in the morning.
“I had quite a lot of respect for e-vehicles and feared an electric shock,” says the 42-year-old, describing his motives for taking part in the course. Daniel Rothmaier, Managing Director of “Q4Flo”, says: “Our goal is to prepare the emergency services for future operations with e-cars and to reduce the risks for them to zero.”
As the number of e-cars on our roads increases, so does the need for further training. According to the Federal Motor Transport Authority, the number of registrations for electric vehicles rose by 31.7 percent in the first six months of this year compared to the same period last year. Their share of the total registration volume was 15.8 percent (220,244 vehicles) in the period.
Differences in fire development and fighting
The training in Sankt Leon-Rot begins with the fundamental question: How do you actually recognize an electric car in the event of a crash? The answer: The letter “E” after the car number is the simplest indication, but not mandatory. Another sign is the absence of the grille and exhaust.
If an e-car is identified as such, the fire brigade can intervene boldly. “If the vehicle’s sensors detect a serious accident, the connection from the battery to the high-voltage components is automatically cut,” explains Rothmaier. Nevertheless, respiratory protection and high-voltage gloves must be worn during operations so that the battery and drive train can be disconnected manually in an emergency.
The fire risk is no greater overall with electric vehicles than with combustion vehicles, as Markus Egelhaaf from the Stuttgart testing and safety company Dekra emphasizes. However, there are differences in how fires break out and how they are fought. Fires in combustion engines are more likely to develop while driving, while an electric car is more likely to catch fire while it is being charged. This could be due to improper connection to the charging device, overheating of the battery or cable and contact problems.
Up to 10,000 liters of extinguishing water
To put out a burning e-battery, there are different requirements for the fire brigade: The fire has to be cooled with more water and for longer than a smoking combustion engine. Up to 10,000 liters of extinguishing water are required. As a rule, a fire engine can hold 800 to 2000 liters. Outside of cities, sourcing that much water is challenging. “So the fire brigade has to come up with more water-carrying vehicles,” said Hachemer.
In an e-car fire, the emergency services are not allowed to end their work with the usual command “fire out”, but instead only with the words “fire under control”.
During the training, the firefighters realized why this is the case: during the test run, the apparently extinguished car caught fire again after a few minutes – and had to be cooled again. This simulates the chemical reaction of “thermal runaway”, i.e. the ignition of one battery cell to the next. That is why it has to be cooled for a particularly long time.
Danger of highly toxic hydrofluoric acid
While damage to the conventional drive must prevent leaking fuel from igniting or penetrating into the ground or sewage system, burning batteries pose an additional risk from highly toxic hydrofluoric acid. The aqueous solution of hydrogen fluoride can cause skin burns, bone damage and, in the worst case, cardiac arrest.
After more than four hours of training, Feuermann Wassersleben is happy about the new knowledge. In particular, his fear of live bodies has given way.
“Now I’m oriented on where to reach and what to keep your hands off.” Commander Bernd Kerle from Sankt Leon-Rot, who initiated this first training course, is also satisfied. “They are now super prepared.” When it comes to rescuing people, a firefighter should not be afraid.