While electric vehicle battery fires are rare, they pose new challenges to emergency responders that aren’t yet well understood.
To accelerate emergency agency knowledge, Australian company EV FireSafe is hosting Electric Responder LIVE, which will give 360 emergency services members the tools, tactics and techniques they need to enhance their safety around EVs.
“Lithium-ion batteries in road-registered electric vehicles rarely catch fire, but EVs are involved in collisions every day in Australia,” said EV FireSafe Director and firefighter Emma Sutcliffe.
“There’s enormous uncertainty around how to manage those incidents safely in the global emergency response community, so we’re using this live event to launch our training program, which is called Electric Responder.”
“Our firefighters, road rescuers, paramedics, police, roadside assist and tow drivers will gain an in-depth understanding of our IAIIM EVABC procedure, learn how to recognise a battery fire and incident management methods, all of which will support their ongoing learning as EV adoption continues to grow.”
Electric Responder LIVE will also feature two road rescue scenarios using late model EVs which have been donated to the Country Fire Authority (Victoria) and the Victorian State Emergency Service by Allianz Insurance.
CFA and SES crews will step through scenarios that mirror real-world incidents; an EV collision and EV into a body of water, both where the driver needs to be extricated using cutting tools. The scenarios will also be filmed for future virtual reality training.
“We’ve been working with Allianz to source written off EVs that can be used to provide real-world experience to road rescue crews,” said Dan Fish, EV FireSafe’s Technical Specialist, who is also a firefighter and road rescuer.
“We believe these road rescue demonstrations will be first of their kind in the world. Each of the scenarios will be provided to participants in a training pack, called a ’skills drill’, so they can take them back to their own crews and conduct in-house training to share that important knowledge.”
“Even when written off, EVs still have considerable value, so we’re incredibly grateful for Allianz Insurance’s support for the Australian emergency response community in donating these EVs.”
Electric Responder LIVE participants will learn how to confidently manage incidents involving electric vehicles through learning sessions with experts covering how to identify an EV battery fire, explosion risk and walkarounds a range of electric cars, trucks and other vehicles.
“We’re very keen to hear from any EV manufacturers or associated industries who can support Electric Responder LIVE by sponsoring smaller road rescue agencies to send members to the event, bringing their EV along or providing services to support the day,” said Event Coordinator and firefighter, Justin Stackpole.
“At the end of the day, this training helps everyone – if emergency responders are EV aware, we can act with confidence and get everyone to safety faster.”
More details about the event can be found at evfiresafe.training EV FireSafe is an Australian company researching electric vehicle battery fires and emergency response with funding from the Australian Department of Defence. Their research is at evfiresafe.com and training at evfiresafe.training
