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Lightning caught fire in Canada

Zprime29

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The reports keep saying it exploded, but I don't see any signs of an explosion. What am I missing?
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The reports keep saying it exploded, but I don't see any signs of an explosion. What am I missing?
Must be the Canadian affiliate of CNN!
 

astrand1

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The reports keep saying it exploded, but I don't see any signs of an explosion. What am I missing?
You’re not missing anything. So many describe a fire as an “explosion” because maybe a tire blows from the heat or whatever. It’s quite rare that a vehicle actually explodes like in the movies.
 

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astrand1

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This popped up on my news feed. Doesn't look good for the Lightning...

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Why does this “not look good” for the lightning? It’s one fire out of how many that are on the road. And we dont know the cause of it yet.
 

chl

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Every time an EV fire occurs, naysayers come out of the woodwork.

If it was an HV battery caused fire, then we Lightning owners need to know the details.
Not likely to get them from the local news media though.

At least there were no injuries mentioned.

Best case scenario for HV originated fire would be it was one of the misaligned battery electrode ones that had not been repaired.
 
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Basis0439

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Why does this “not look good” for the lightning? It’s one fire out of how many that are on the road. And we dont know the cause of it yet.
Well, the Lightning caught fire and is a write-off. So, it truly does not look good for the Lightning.
 

astrand1

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Well, the Lightning caught fire and is a write-off. So, it truly does not look good for the Lightning.
Yes that particular truck is totaled. But the statement sounded more general as if to say all lightnings. At least that’s what I read into it.
 

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Wattsgas

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Well there are 940 Lightnings being recalled for having misaligned battery electrodes that could cause a fire. Ford recommends only charging to 80% until fixed. Issue was identified in December.
 

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Every time an EV fire occurs, naysayers come out of the woodwork.
You speak the truth.

I am going to pull out my "retired firefighter card" now. Every time the "EV's spontaneously burst into flames and kill people" narrative comes up amongst my non-firefighter friends, I politely bring up the incalculable number of spontaneous ICE car fires that I responded to during my relatively short 20+ year career. It's just what happens. ICE car fires start in garages and burn the house down too, but from what you'll find online depending on your source, you should never park your EV inside and the charger should be 100' away from anything else :facepalm: The ICE car fires never had the apocalyptic narrative connected to them like EV's and hybrids have. The real difference is the tactics needed to combat an EV/hybrid fire - no water if the battery is involved and the long amount of time it will take for the battery to burn itself out. Protecting people and property around the EV fire is the same as dealing with an ICE car fire, you'll just be there longer dealing with the EV. EV's are just new and have unfortunate political narratives connected to them so the irrational fear of EV fires will continue until hydrogen powered cars come along to steal the spotlight.

In the fire community we went through similar scare trends of airbag inflators killing us during accident extrications and pressurized struts blowing up and becoming missiles during fires. Once we learned how to safely approach and what to do to mitigate those issues, the scare and death narrative faded. I predict the same will happen with EV's.

The reports keep saying it exploded, but I don't see any signs of an explosion. What am I missing?
Missing nothing. Even on ICE car fires people would freak the eff out about the car exploding. As @astrand1 says, its usually the tires or the gas tank that finally over-pressure and burst. Even when the gas tanks burst, its more of a "WHOOOOSH" than a "BOOM!" There's no mushroom cloud explosion like in every movie ever created. The tires blowing always scared me the most because they're so loud.
 
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chl

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You speak the truth.

I am going to pull out my "retired firefighter card" now. Every time the "EV's spontaneously burst into flames and kill people" narrative comes up amongst my non-firefighter friends, I politely bring up the incalculable number of spontaneous ICE car fires that I responded to during my relatively short 20+ year career. It's just what happens. ICE car fires start in garages and burn the house down too, but from what you'll find online depending on your source, you should never park your EV inside and the charger should be 100' away from anything else :facepalm: The ICE car fires never had the apocalyptic narrative connected to them like EV's and hybrids have. The real difference is the tactics needed to combat an EV/hybrid fire - no water if the battery is involved and the long amount of time it will take for the battery to burn itself out. Protecting people and property around the EV fire is the same as dealing with an ICE car fire, you'll just be there longer dealing with the EV. EV's are just new and have unfortunate political narratives connected to them so the irrational fear of EV fires will continue until hydrogen powered cars come along to steal the spotlight.

In the fire community we went through similar scare trends of airbag inflators killing us during accident extrications and pressurized struts blowing up and becoming missiles during fires. Once we learned how to safely approach and what to do to mitigate those issues, the scare and death narrative faded. I predict the same will happen with EV's.



Missing nothing. Even on ICE car fires people would freak the eff out about the car exploding. As @astrand1 says, its usually the tires or the gas tank that finally over-pressure and burst. Even when the gas tanks burst, its more of a "WHOOOOSH" that a "BOOM!" There's no mushroom cloud explosion like in every movie ever created. The tires blowing always scared me the most because they're so loud.
Not a fire fighter myself, but I have seen a couple ICE car fires over the years.

One time visiting my dad at his church office as I came out to the sidewalk there was a car parked with the hood up and what looked like insulation on the inside top of the hood on fire - I ran inside and grabbed the fire extinguisher off the wall and put it out quickly before it spread. No injuries.

My parents Toyota Camry mysteriously caught fire one night in front of their house - most likely an electrical fire - put out by the fire fighters quickly as no gas tank explosion involved, just gutted the inside completely - totaled the car. No injuries.

And while I didn't witness it, I saw the aftermath - a house burned to the ground at a neighbor of one of my adult kids house in GA due to a faulty ignition switch/relay in a Ford Ranger parked inside a garage - no injuries thank goodness.

Never seen an EV fire in person - never hope to see one either.
Probably won't - they are very rare.

BTW, my dad was a chaplain of the Alexandria Volunteer Fire Dept. for many years.
One time, VP Spiro Agnew visited the Dept for some event and handed out Agnew Watches, my dad gave the invocation - still have the watch - lol.

The next VP Gerald Ford also visited the Dept for some event in 1974 - he was an Alexandria, Virginia native while in congress - some one got a pic of him and my dad and gave it to us:

Ford F-150 Lightning Lightning caught fire in Canada 1974 President Ford at Fire Dept Event 2

My dad at the mic saying the prayer, probably praying for an end to the Vietnam war among other things.
 

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