TEMPE, AZ — All City Towing held a seminar Thursday for Valley first responders to share knowledge on managing the risks, increasing challenges, and best practices when it comes to electric vehicle fires.
The Valley has seen several incidents involving electric vehicles that posed a threat to the public in recent months.
All City Towing was the company that responded when a Tesla crashed into a Scottsdale building and caught fire in February.
When they were towing the vehicle away a short time later, the vehicle caught fire again on the tow truck.
Then, a row of electric semi-trucks caught fire at the Nikola headquarters in Phoenix last month.
Firefighters had to stay on the scene for hours to make sure the batteries cooled properly and didn't reignite.
All City Towing General Manager Jeffrey Dunn said that with the rapid growth of the EV market, they feel it's crucial for first responders to be well-prepared to manage these types of incidents.
"If we've got knowledge or know of knowledge that we believe that they could use that could save lives, could make them more safe, then we want to impart that on them," Dunn said. "These batteries, once they become compromised, whether it's through a collision or an incendiary event, typically speaking, it's very difficult if not impossible to put them out. Generally speaking, they have to burn completely out."
Although that seminar held at Harkins in Tempe was for first responders only, Dunn said the best advice he can give someone who's involved in an incident with an EV is to get out of your vehicle and move as far from it as possible.
