(Credit: Dustin Weese/Jacquie Hower via Upper Allen Fire Department)
A Tesla vehicle caught on fire while charging at a Pennsylvania Supercharging station this week, melting a good portion of the EV. Multiple fire stations worked to safely put out the flames and prevent any hazardous waste from spreading into the surrounding area.
"On arrival, Squad 23 crews stretched a line and began fire attack. Once the bulk of the fire was extinguished, crews began the cooling process of the vehicle battery," the Upper Allen Fire Department explained in a post detailing the incident, which occurred around 6 p.m. ET Monday.
The fire at the Sheetz station, which is located in Mechanicsburg, about 80 miles north of Baltimore, resulted in a road closure as crews worked to access the nearest fire hydrant. After the vehicle fire was put out and the battery cooled, the Tesla's husk was towed away.
"These are not easy fires to put out, and the hazmat concerns they pose are difficult to mitigate," the Upper Allen Fire Department says.
(Credit: Dustin Weese/Jacquie Hower via Upper Allen Fire Department)The exact cause of the fire has not yet been made public. It's unclear if there were any injuries PCMag reached out to the Upper Allen fire team and the Mechanicsburg Fire Department for comment. The Upper Allen Police declined to comment.
EV battery fires tend to be more challenging for fire crews to put out because of the possibility of a phenomenon known as thermal runaway. They can also burn up to 1,000 degrees hotter than a gas or diesel engine fire, according to Versik Analytics data previously reported by The Telegraph.
Mechanicsburg's South Market Street Sheetz Supercharging station has eight Superchargers onsite. Its Superchargers support Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS) plugs and Combined Charging System (CCS) plugs with an adapter, according to data on Tesla's website. Earlier this year, Tesla began opening up its Supercharger network to other EV brands in the US. Thus far, Ford and Rivian EVs have access to select stations.
Fires have occurred at Tesla charging stations before—but it's not always due to the Supercharger itself. Last month, a Tesla charger at an NFL player's Tennessee home caught fire, though the exact cause of the blaze was not reported. Earlier this year, a Tesla "Megapack" for Superchargers caught on fire and fully burnt to a crisp at a Tesla charging station in California. And in 2019, a Supercharger station fire in New Jersey occurred due to an issue with a "separate onsite transformer," though that fire incident ultimately had "nothing to do really" with the Supercharger itself, according to a fire department spokesperson.