Mountain View Fire Department gets new tool to battle electric vehicle fires

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - The Mountain View Fire Department has a new tool to help them put out electric vehicle battery fires, which can be notoriously difficult to extinguish. The cutting-edge device helps firefighters cool the inside of a battery, and firefighters say it could help them avert a real disaster as more EVs hit the road.

The device is called BEST, or Battery Extinguishing System Technology, and it's designed specifically for electric vehicles.

"This is essentially a brand-new piece of equipment. You're seeing something most other people have not seen," says Robert Maitland, public information officer with the Mountain View Fire Department.

Firefighters say it is a desperately needed solution to a problem they've seen firsthand.

Back in 2018, a Tesla crashed and caught fire on Highway 101. Its battery continued to re-ignite at least three or four times in the days that followed. 

KTVU did an investigation into that crash and Mountain View's Chief Juan Diaz explained, "In this particular case, six days later, the temperature inside those cells increased to the point of ignition. That's why the car reignited. You have stored energy that is frankly unstable."

That's where the BEST device comes in. Firefighters used an old non-electric car to show us how it would work.

The tool slides under the floorboard, pierces the battery pack, and injects a stream of water directly inside. That allows firefighters to cool the inside of the battery, whereas before they could only submerge the outside in water.

"So we could potentially use hundreds of gallons instead of thousands of gallons," says Capt. George Mocak, with Mountain View Fire's Hazmat 55.

In addition to saving water, crews say it allows them to stand back, away from potentially toxic smoke.

"So the firefighter is safer, the vehicle itself is going to be put out that much faster, and it's going to serve us that much more," says Maitland.

Mountain View has just finished training on the device but has yet to see it in action.

"It's still in its new inception phase. We're only one of two departments in the Northern California area that has it. So we still have a lot to learn," says Mocak.

BEST costs about $33,000.

For now, Mountain View is prepared to share. They say if other departments in Santa Clara County need help with an EV fire, they'll come running as part of their mutual aid agreement.