A Tesla suffered a “spontaneous” car battery fire on a California highway near Sacramento. After the car exploded into flames, firefighters used an astonishing 6,000 gallons of water to extinguish the blaze. And it’s not the first time this has happened.
EV nightmare: Tesla explodes into flames on freeway
A driver of a Tesla Model S was traveling at freeway speeds on Highway 50 in Rancho Cordova, near Sacramento, California, on Saturday around 3 PM when smoke started pouring out of the front end of the car, the Daily Mail reported.
Officials said the Tesla’s battery “spontaneously caught fire.”
The driver managed to pull to the side of the road and exit the vehicle and was not injured in the incident.
According to a tweet by area fire officials, crewmembers from the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District responded to a Tesla that was “engulfed in flames” due to a battery fire on Saturday afternoon.
“The vehicle battery compartment spontaneously caught fire while it was traveling freeway speeds on EB Hwy 50,” Metro Fire of Sacramento tweeted.
Firefighters use 6000 gallons of water to extinguish the blaze
According to reports, the blaze was difficult to extinguish and firefighters had to use 6,000 gallons of water to get the fire out, which is more than the average 4,500 gallons needed to extinguish a typical building fire, and a significant amount considering California’s drought-ravaged status.
“The fire was extinguished with approx 6,000 gallons of water, as the battery cells continued to combust,” Metro Fire of Sacramento tweeted. “Thankfully no injuries were reported.”
Two fire engines, a water tender, and a ladder truck were called to assist, and fire crews also used jacks to access the underside to extinguish and cool the battery, fire officials said, CBS reported.
Another Tesla in storage also erupted in flames
This latest fire is not the first Tesla S fire that Metro Fire of Sacramento officials had to extinguish in recent months.
Back in June, firefighters had to go to extremes to extinguish another white Tesla model that burst into flames in a Rancho Cordova wrecking yard, after the electric vehicle had spent weeks in storage following a collision, the Daily Mail reported.
Firefighters were called to the wrecking yard where they found the Tesla engulfed in flames. During that incident, firefighters had a difficult time extinguishing the blaze, as every time they nearly extinguished the flames, Tesla’s battery would reignite the fire, as a video posted by the fire department showed. Firefighters said “residual heat” would reignite the fire.
Firefighters had to dig a pit to submerge vehicle to extinguish fire
The firefighters eventually dug a pit near the Tesla and moved the burning car into it, then filled the pit with water, successfully extinguishing the blaze by “effectively submerging the battery compartment.” The fire department used approximately 4,500 gallons of water to extinguish that electric vehicle fire, which is roughly the same amount required in a building fire.
