Lithium-Ion Batteries Blamed for Hurricane Helene Fires
Meanwhile, on the West Coast, a truck carrying lithium-Ion batteries catches fire, closing terminals at the Port of Los Angeles.
One doesn’t usually associate catastrophic flooding with an increased risk of fire. But in the era where electric vehicles (EVs) and their lithium-ion batteries are being thrust into the marketplace by political forces, this has become a new reality.
Florida State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis on Tuesday said there have been 16 fires during and after Hurricane Helene attributed to lithium-ion batteries used in Tesla and other electric vehicles, golf carts and other vehicles and devices.
Florida officials are investigating more structure and vehicle fires to see if more in storm-impacted areas were caused by electric batteries.
Patronis is worried that more lithium batteries could catch fire or explode after being exposed to floodwaters from the hurricane.
He urged owners to remove, properly dispose of or have towed away electric vehicle golf carts and other devices that have been exposed to floodwaters after record storm surges deluged communities and neighborhoods along Florida’s west coast.
For cultists worried about climate change, a roaring fire hitting 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit will change the local climate quickly and disastrously.
Typically, an EV fire burns at roughly 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 Celsius), while a gasoline-powered vehicle on fire burns at 1,500 F (815 C). It takes about 2,000 gallons of water to extinguish a burning gasoline-powered vehicle; putting out an EV fire can take 10 times more.
Unfortunately, due to the elite media and its green energy “experts,” the public who are making the choices based on pseudoscience narratives are not making fully informed decisions.
Such manipulation can be deadly, as is evidenced by the death of an elderly man who endeavored to put out a lithium-ion battery on his own without realizing its special hazards.
An elderly man living in the Windmill Village community died Saturday. He was severely burned after a golf cart battery exploded, causing a massive fire.
“He was trying to fight the fire. He was overcome by the smoke and then passed out into the fire, which resulted in life-threatening burns and injuries,” Todd Dunn, public information officer with Charlotte County Fire & EMS, said.
Mike O’Neill lives near the elderly man, who is named Tom. He said floodwaters hit unprecedented levels in the manufactured home community, making it hard for even first responders to reach the fire.
In fact, Florida State Fire Marshall Jimmy Patronis has confirmed 16 cases of EV fires due to water intrusion and noted that manufacturers should perhaps share more about this particular issue with potential customers.
The Fire Marshal’s office has confirmed 16 lithium-ion battery fires related to storm surge from Helene; six are EVs.
Unfortunately, we didn’t see much of an effort by manufacturers to tell customers in storm surge areas to relocate their cars.
More: https://t.co/40B2tKC9JR
— Jimmy Patronis (@JimmyPatronis) October 2, 2024
Beege Welborne of Hot Air reviewed the bad week for lithium-ion batteries in the country, including an incident that shut down terminals at the Port of Los Angeles.
A tractor-trailer carrying large lithium-ion batteries overturned and caught on fire on a highway near the Port of Los Angeles on Thursday, snarling traffic and leading to road closures and the shuttering of several terminals at the port.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said in a statement Thursday night that the fire was expected to burn for at least another 24 to 48 hours and that a roughly seven-mile stretch of California State Route 47, from the Vincent Thomas Bridge to Long Beach, would be closed in that period.
The Port of Los Angeles, the busiest port in the Western Hemisphere, said that several terminals would be closed on Friday.
…The explosion caused the batteries to ignite, causing a “thermal runaway,” a chain reaction in which heat develops extremely quickly, Capt. Adam Van Gerpen of the Los Angeles Fire Department told reporters.
One of the potential tragedies of a similar fire occurred amid one of California’s infamous Santa Ana winds.
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Comments
Still not ready for prime time. This is what you get when you have Half Baked technologies that don’t have all of the problems fully understood.
My son had a Tesla, it does worry me
I have an electric bike, I keep in a detached garage and charge it outside.
It’s scary
Oh, I dunno. These batteries seem suitable for pagers sold in some countries of the middle east…
I always find it fascinating people that should be knowledgeable about fires keep trying to put out chemical fires with water, lithium fires are chemical fires and foam or something similar should be used to put the file out, would you use water on a gasoline file
16 lithium ion fires and only 6 were from EVs. Since Lithium Ion batteries are in everything, that number seems a little low. When I was deciding what kind of battery backup I wanted for my off grid house, I went with LFP because they’re safer. I also live in an area that drops well below zero Dec-Feb and they perform better in cold weather as well.
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