The Tesla Semi fire required 50,000 gallons of water to put out
Firefighters in California needed to spray 50,000 gallons of water to put out a Tesla Semi roadside fire, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said in a preliminary report. Crews also used the plane to drop firefighters “in the vicinity as a precaution,” according to the agency.
The crash happened at 3:13 AM on August 19 on the I80 freeway east of Sacramento. The trailer left the road while traveling on a curve, hit the traffic delineator and finally hit a tree. The driver was not injured but was taken to hospital as a precaution.
The Tesla Semi’s massive 900kWh battery burned to a temperature of 1,000 degrees F while spewing toxic fumes. It continued to heat up into the late afternoon as firefighters doused themselves with water to cool themselves (Tesla sent a technical expert to assess the dangers of high voltage and fire safety). It wasn’t until 7:20 PM (more than 16 hours after the crash) that the highway was reopened.
All of that caught the attention of the NTSB, which sent a team of investigators, specifically to examine the fire risk posed by large lithium-ion battery packs. The agency — which can only make safety recommendations and has no law enforcement authority — said “all aspects of the accident remain under investigation while the NTSB determines a probable cause.”
Given the long road closures, dangerously hot fires and toxic fumes, the accident is likely to spark a lot of discussion inside and outside the government. The NTSB concluded in 2021 that battery fires pose a risk to emergency responders and that manufacturers’ guidelines for such fires are inadequate.
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