GREEN BAY, WI — The Green Bay Metro Fire Department is now better prepared to handle electric vehicle fires with help from Tripe-A. A grant of just over 15-thousand dollars from Triple A’s Auto Club Group is allowing the fire department to buy special equipment designed to handle E-V fires. Green Bay Metro Fire Chief Matt Nott says his department realized it needed help as electric vehicles become more commonplace. Nott says electric vehicle plugs are especially welcome at E-V accident and fire scenes to disable vehicle electrical systems.
“It feels like it’s being charged,” he says. “So it actually works on some safety features to disable certain portions of that vehicle, set parking brakes and basically turn the vehicle off, so to speak. So there’s still power for 12-volts so we can still roll windows down and do things. But the vehicle’s not going to move and it’s not going to activate that large vehicle cell.”
A special fire blanket is available to throw on an E-V fire. Chief Nott says that will buy fire crews time to get other gear in place to extinguish fires.
“The fire blanket will enable us to control the fire in the short term,” he says. “While we get the tools and equipment ready along with all that water supply, too.”
Each kit also includes traffic safety cones with LED lights that make accident scenes more visible at night. Chief Nott says the electric vehicle firefighting kits will also be made available to other agencies as needed.
Nick Jarmusz, AAA Director of Public Relations/Midwest Region, says the Auto Club Grants are in direct response to demand from local fire departments.
“We know they have the expertise and the training,” Jarmusz says. “To understand what they need to fill in these gaps and to address these kinds of fires.”
