The car park fire is now in the clean up phase.
It does not seem good that a 3 year old car park which apparently met the requirements could burn so catastrophically. There was a similar fire in Liverpool in 2017. The official fire report raises a number of issues and questions.
To me the key point in the Liverpool fire was the spread of fuel due to the failure of plastic fuel tanks compounded by the drainage system.
Would requiring sprinklers help? Would sprinklers make an EV fire worse?
Is there any update on this? It would be interesting to follow this on.
The investigation report is not expected before April 2024:
I see that Bedfordshire Fire & Rescue have pointed out quite forcefully that it was a diesel car that caught fire, not an EV.
But what we all expect is that it was a diesel hybrid car…
I didn't even know such a thing existed so looked it up. They are pretty rare beasts, but if like me you are curious then read on:-
ICE or EV or Hybrid vehicle may have started the fire but the chain reaction that destroyed over 1000 vehicles (and by my understanding they are going to demolition the whole structure for safety reasons) also needs to be looked at.
It would be good to see what they had for a fire risk assessment for that car park, considering it was only built a few years ago(I think 3 years). Was there any consideration for a EV catching fire while charging or not charging but suffering from thermal runaway. What about a fire in close proximity to an EV. At this point people will say that an ICE needs the same risk assessment but we have no issue with a metal can on our driveway with 70 litre of fuel in it. (Which is a valid point)
However I have seen ICE vehicle fires and I have seen them put out quite quick and easy. EV fires on the other hand are not the same beast. Another point to consider is that when the vehicle is on fire for whatever reason how long before it spreads to the next vehicle. I have seen this demonstrated with mobile phone batteries. 1 was punctured and left to ignite and the fire was like the back end of a firework. In the second test they punctured the same make and model battery and placed it 10cm from another battery and then 10cm another battery was positioned. The result was truly scary.
In both tests the first battery caught fire and burned vigorously but in the second test the adjacent batteries also caught fire and when they did the heat and intensity of the fire area grew. Now imagine 10 EV cars lined up together and one catches fire and is burning so intense that it makes the next vehicle catch fire. The domino effect of each successive car catching fire means more work for the attending fire fire-fighters.
ICE or EV or Hybrid vehicle may have started the fire but the chain reaction that destroyed over 1000 vehicles (and by my understanding they are going to demolition the whole structure for safety reasons) also needs to be looked at.
It would be good to see what they had for a fire risk assessment for that car park, considering it was only built a few years ago(I think 3 years). Was there any consideration for a EV catching fire while charging or not charging but suffering from thermal runaway. What about a fire in close proximity to an EV. At this point people will say that an ICE needs the same risk assessment but we have no issue with a metal can on our driveway with 70 litre of fuel in it. (Which is a valid point)
However I have seen ICE vehicle fires and I have seen them put out quite quick and easy. EV fires on the other hand are not the same beast. Another point to consider is that when the vehicle is on fire for whatever reason how long before it spreads to the next vehicle. I have seen this demonstrated with mobile phone batteries. 1 was punctured and left to ignite and the fire was like the back end of a firework. In the second test they punctured the same make and model battery and placed it 10cm from another battery and then 10cm another battery was positioned. The result was truly scary.
In both tests the first battery caught fire and burned vigorously but in the second test the adjacent batteries also caught fire and when they did the heat and intensity of the fire area grew. Now imagine 10 EV cars lined up together and one catches fire and is burning so intense that it makes the next vehicle catch fire. The domino effect of each successive car catching fire means more work for the attending fire fire-fighters.
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