Driver escapes unhurt after EV catches fire in Cranberry Township
The driver of a Toyota electric vehicle escaped injury Tuesday, Jan. 30, after the vehicle’s battery caught fire while he was driving on St. Francis Way in Cranberry Township.
According to Scott Garing, Cranberry Township chief of Fire and Emergency Services, the fire was not the result of a crash.
“They didn’t crash the car. They got out of the car when it started smoking,” Garing said. “He had just charged it, and when he was driving down the road he heard a pop, and then it started smoking.”
The vehicle came to rest in the parking lot of a shopping center on St. Francis Way, where the Cranberry Township Volunteer Fire Company accessed the car’s battery and extinguished the blaze.
According to Garing, it was easier to reach the battery in this car than in most other electric vehicles.
“This one was pretty easy. It was right in the back seat and the cover was off of the battery, so we were able to apply water directly to the cells,” Garing said. “But there are different models where the batteries are mounted underneath the car where we don't have access to them.”
Garing says that the driver was the only occupant of the vehicle, and was unhurt.
While Garing says this is the first electric vehicle fire the department has fought, they have been trained on the principles of dealing with such fires.
“The one thing we cannot stop is the propagation of the battery cells and the thermal runaway they go into whenever they’re damaged,” Garing said. “They essentially continue to set themselves on fire until they explode or they’re cooled appropriately to the point where they don’t fail.”
