California fire crews use SIX THOUSAND gallons of water to extinguish burning Tesla Model S
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California fire crews use SIX THOUSAND gallons of water to extinguish burning Tesla Model S whose battery spontaneously burned while driving on a busy highway
- The Tesla caught fire while the driver was driving on Highway 50 in Rancho Cordova
- Firefighters said there was nothing wrong with the car before it caught fire.
- Approximately 6,000 gallons of water were used to extinguish the fire.
Firefighters used 6,000 gallons of water to extinguish a Tesla Model S that caught fire spontaneously on a busy highway outside Sacramento on Saturday.
The driver, who was not injured, was on Highway 50 in Rancho Cordova around 3:00 p.m. when smoke began billowing from the front of the car.
Photos of the luxury car showed the vehicle completely wrecked with the front end completely burned.
Officials responded to the scene with two fire trucks and a water tender. The Metro Fire of Sacramento crew said there was nothing wrong with the car before.
Firefighters used 6,000 gallons of water to extinguish a Tesla Model S that caught fire while the driver was on Highway 50 in Rancho Cordova
The horrifying fire was not the first Tesla S fire that Metro Fire of Sacramento officials had to extinguish.
A white Tesla model burst into flames at a Rancho Cordova junkyard in June after the car sat there for weeks following a collision.
Firefighters arrived at the wrecking yard to find the Tesla completely engulfed in flames. Every time the firefighters tried to extinguish the flames, the Tesla’s battery would reignite the fire.
The fire department posted an Instagram video of the ordeal, saying that even when firefighters moved the Tesla on its side to spray the battery directly, the car would catch fire again “due to residual heat.”
Eventually, firefighters dug a hole near the Tesla and moved the burning car inside and then filled the hole with water, “effectively submerging the battery compartment.”
The technique worked, and the fire department was able to put out the fire with no injuries and 4,500 gallons of water were used, about the same amount of water used for a building fire.
The driver, who was not injured, pulled over to the side of the road as traffic passed.
The Metro Fire of Sacramento crew said there was nothing wrong with the car before.
Firefighters from the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District dug a hole and used 4,500 gallons of water to put out the Tesla’s flames in June.
Fires generated by electric vehicles can be especially dangerous, generating more than 100 organic chemicals, including some potentially deadly toxic gases such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide.
Tesla’s batteries may be at greater risk of combustion due to the lithium-ion technology they use, which is a relatively new introduction to the auto industry. Lithium-ion batteries charge faster, but can reach extreme temperatures if damaged.
The increase in the use of electric vehicles in recent years has highlighted some of the risks associated with them.