Spartanburg Co. buys EV fire gear, despite no record of EV fires

SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) — Spartanburg County recently purchased equipment to help better aid emergency responders fight electric vehicle fires.

According to county documents, the EV Fire Blankets and SUDZ-IT EV Nozzles were bought for $24,387.40 in June.

The blankets are designed to work in tandem with the nozzles, allowing firefighters to simultaneously smother flames while spraying the lithium-ion batteries with water.

“Luckily, we are one of the first counties in the state, and we are one of the most aggressive when it comes to planning and training for electric vehicle fires,” said Scottie Kay Blackwell, Spartanburg County’s Communications Manager. “We want to make sure we’re prepared should that ever happened.”

The blankets and nozzles can be used in other cases of fires involving lithium-ion batteries such as battery plants.

Spartanburg County’s Office of Emergency Management explained what the gear can withstand.

“The Fire Isolator blanket was developed for the Maritime Container Industry and has been tested to a peak temperature of 3,100 degrees F. It will contain a peak temperature of 2,200 degrees for over 48 hours [and has] a shelf life of 25 years. The SUDZ-IT EV Nozzle was chosen for its low profile, designed to be slid under the burning vehicle, cooling the battery.”

Five county fire departments each received one blanket and one nozzle:

• Cherokee Springs
• Duncan
• North Spartanburg
• South Spartanburg – Roebuck
• Spartanburg City Engine 62

The last set was kept and designated for use as a training set by the county.

However, the blankets, which cost the county $1950 each, can only be used once per fire.

“It’s a one and done deal and the reason for that being because once it goes on, those batteries stay in thermal run away for a long time,” said Nicholas Ray, the North Spartanburg Fire Department’s Deputy Fire Chief. “If we pull the blanket off, the fire is going to start back.”

Thermal run away occurs when heat generated during discharging or recharging lithium batteries causes the cell temperature to rise to the point at which battery ingredients combine spontaneously; the cell smoking or catching fire .

During a working fire, the 80 pound blanket — made up mostly of Kevlar — will be thrown over the electric vehicle. The blanket then smothers the blaze and traps toxic chemicals that burning lithium-ion battery release.

At the same time, another firefighter puts together the SUDZ-IT EV nozzle into a long pipe attached to a water source as it is slid under the EV.

“[The nozzle] throws water out in all four directions and puts water out into the lithium-ion battery housing,” said Ray. “If we were just going to cast water on it, it would burn for hours, days and possibly weeks. We would just have to sit there and continually put water on it, unless you submerge the batteries under water or somehow remove the oxygen from it, removing its ability to sustain fire. [The batteries] will burn until they’re done.”

Danilo Diaz, a lieutenant with the North Spartanburg Fire Department said the investment is worth it because of the rising popularity of EVs.

“We have these new EV vehicles coming onto the roads, not only that we have a plant coming into the southern end of our county, doing nothing but EV vehicles, that’s BMW,” said Diaz.

Greenville County and Spartanburg County make up part of what the County calls the Southeastern Battery Belt, a multi-billion-dollar industry.

According to Spartanburg County Emergency Management, in 2023, $90 billion was invested into the industry.

However, according to Blackwell, “Spartanburg County has actually not experienced an electric vehicle fire so far.”

Which brings up the question of whether this was a wise investment. According to Ray, it’s “a weights and skills game.”

“A $1,000 blanket or 10,000 gallons of water that we’re potentially having to spin,” said Ray. “Put that out on the interstate with an EV fire out there now, [and] we’re running multiple trucks up and down the road. That’s disrupting traffic, it’s burning up taxpayer-funded fuel and it’s putting wear and tear on firetrucks that are taxpayer funded.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WSPA 7NEWS.