A few weeks ago, FireRescue1's Adam K. Thiel spoke at a conference about homeland security-related standards and best practices, and a participant asked him about the increasing prevalence of electric vehicles and their impact on the fire and emergency services.
Adam Thiel speaking at conference about homeland security-related standards and best practices. Photo by NFPA's Ken Willette.
Adam explains how he couldn't help but think about the many changes to vehicle design and construction over the past 20 years, including air bags and gasoline/ethanol fuel blends, and how they have influenced (or not) the approach to vehicle fires and extrication.
He's sure that eventually we'll all adapt to these changes, but they certainly bear watching and, as with anything else, we must keep our training updated to safely and effectively respond to the ever-changing response environment.
Adam also points out that "The National Fire Protection Association offers an Electric Vehicle (EV) Safety Training program that is becoming a must for fire departments everywhere; check it out at www.evsafetytraining.org/" - thanks for the support Adam, we'll continue our work to train first responders on the differences in electric vehicle response!
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