With the rapidly expanding number of EVs on the road, public services are adapting. New charging stations are popping up, public-private partnerships are growing (like Rivian and the State of Illinois teaming up), and first responders are adapting to the new challenges presented by fast-moving technology.
We saw an interesting press release from the National Fire Protection Association, they released an EV firefighting videogame for free with the help of a private developer and a Department of Energy grant. So far, more than a million firefighters have used the game to learn about fighting EV fires.
Well, that pitch was irresistible to us. We wanted to know more about how EVs work in emergencies, and we get to play videogames to do it? Awesome, count me in, let the games begin.
Destination, Jobtown: The randomized directional fire jets from the battery pack are a nice touch of realism.
EV Fire Training: More than “Put the Wet Stuff on the Red Stuff”
Now, if you’ve never sat for first responder training, it’s normally pretty dry. Imagine endless binders as your subject matter expert reads slides to you. Don’t worry, you WILL be quizzed at the end.
On the one hand? It’s effective. Fire departments are highly professional organizations, the technical training is key to maintaining that keen edge. On the other hand, the old-fashioned training is boring as all get out, so the training could almost certainly have a bigger impact if it were more exciting.
So, gamified training is a welcome change of pace. Training that sticks better saves lives, and I can tell you this is a lot more interactive than the usual binders and multiple-choice quizzes.
The game is free, you can play it single player or with your squad, and it even has a leader board! How cool is that.
Here’s how my (virtual) training went.
Fighting EV Fires: Just like “Streetsweeper Simulator.” OK, maybe a little different…
The training is actually a 3-in-one. It covers EV fires, battery storage fires, and how to disconnect photovoltaic systems. Sort of an all-purpose “new energy system” training for firefighters. That’s fine, I can work with that.
Realism-wise, you approach the fire just like you would any structure fire for starters. Scene safety, 360 walk-around, home owner interview, search the house, get your hydrant ready and hose charged, all that good stuff.
(Funny note: in the proud tradition of first responder training videos since the dawn of time, the voice acting is real awful. Like, truly abysmal. Love it, brings back old times.)
Then, you practice the EV-specific techniques you learned in the quick videos at the start. Vent the garage before opening the overhead door. Bring the temperature down. Then winch the EV out into the street where it won’t ignite anything else.
“LT, I think we’re at the right address!”
A word for our realism hounds: the graphics here are honestly great for a free training. For some folks in our audience (you know who you are and if that is you, thank you for doing what you do), those folks know that this room should be basically pitch black with smoke and steam. Once you get to work indoors, you really can’t see much. Doesn’t make for a very good visual video game, though, so they took some creative liberties, letting you see fires through walls and such.
A little more concerning, but understandable from a training-hours-efficiency standpoint… the game is REALLY quick. All told, I think I played for a half hour. EV fires are special, in that they take a very long time to fight. More than an hour is typical, versus a gasoline car fire is normally very quick, like 5-15 minutes.
Not a problem to “fast forward” the training, but the training didn’t mention the fast forwarding, not that I noticed. In the field, folks might be surprised when they hit the EV with water, and then the water does basically nothing for the first half hour, because the game made it seem much faster. That’s because EV fires typically take an hour or more to put out.
Videos for Key Concepts
Now, I’m loosely familiar with a couple different types of blowouts. It’s not the sort of thing you forget if you’re trained on it.
Before entering a burning building, you check for signs that look a lot like the building is breathing. If it is breathing, get clear and don’t open any doors or windows, because you might trigger an explosion if you do.
[Edit: Friendly folks who would know pointed out, I was loose with my definitions when I described the above event as a flashover explosion in a previous draft. A fine distinction, but this publication is distinctly fine, and so we’ve adjusted that language to avoid confusion.]
Don’t need to tell me twice.
What I didn’t know about was the unique risks of EV vehicle fire blowouts. Lithium ion batteries off-gas flammable byproducts, and they can explode (more on that in this article). I won’t be standing in front of the garage door at an EV garage fire, because it can blow out like a claymore mine. Good use of video to illustrate the point!
Now, because I’m an idiot, I tried to mess up the training, and opened the garage door early. Sure enough, the overhead door blows out and your guy gets steamrolled. I now know the fastest way to turn a fire call into an EMS call. That’s actually really good training, a painless way to learn an otherwise painful lesson.
Forward Looking: IR Cameras & Drones
The inclusion of new tech was interesting. Back in the day, the first step (after confirming your scene was safe to approach at all) was to do a 360 walk-around. Basically, getting the lay of the land, making sure there are no lurking surprises around back.
In the game, you do your walk-around on foot in the typical way, but then you have the option to augment your search with FPV drones. Neat! I haven’t seen a fire department drone where I live, but I’m glad the training is forward-looking, I expect we’ll be seeing those soon.
Handheld FLIR cameras aren’t new, exactly, but they used to cost about $40,000 when they were introduced. That sort of price tag limits who has access, the officer in the field would personally hand it out as needed, probably with a real serious warning not to drop it. Now, they’re about $600 on the low end, so that tech is far more accessible, particularly to volunteer departments with tight budgets. (A Halligan tool might cost half as much, and they hand out Halligans to folks like me!)
For tackling EV fires, FLIR cameras can be used to scan the underside of an extinguished EV. That way, you can tell if the pack is an ongoing fire hazard. You also listen for “gurgling” or “hissing” noises, because a battery pack that is still in Thermal Runaway mode sounds just like Smaug the Dragon. Good to slay the dragon before turning the scene over to the tow trucks, just so there’s no reignition event.
Game Over. Final Verdict? Pretty Darn Good
That’s all we’ll say about that. All told, it’s good to see first responder trainings adapting to new technologies.
We’ve got a series of first responder articles around electric vehicles, so stay tuned for those if you find this stuff interesting like we do! Our first one is ready, so read the science behind: “Why Firefighters Hate EV Fires.“
