Firefighters battled an hours-long fire sparked by a ruptured lithium ion battery after a fatal Tesla crash in New York, according to a report.
The Daily Voice reported that the incident occurred around 11 a.m. Sunday on the Palisades Interstate Parkway in Nanuet.
Firefighters from Nanuet, New City, and Spring Valley responded to the fire, finally extinguishing it at around 1 p.m. One person was killed in the incident.
According to the Nanuet Fire Department’s social media page, the first-arriving unit confirmed that a Tesla Model S was involved in the fire. The Tesla’s sole source of power is the 375 Volt Lithium Ion Battery, which spans the entire length and width of the floor of the car, the post said. This battery was ruptured and was in thermal run away, making it extremely difficult to be extinguished.
As electric vehicles become more prevalent around the country, fire departments are paying more attention to the specific firematic problems posed by these vehicles. There have been several fatal incidents involving Tesla, including a deadly fire in Miami Gardens, Florida. In a high-profile incident in 2021, two people were killed when the Tesla Model S crashed and burned in Texas, spurring a probe by the National Transportation Safety Board.
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