Suspicious fire burn several Arizona electric trucks
PHOENIX, Ariz. (CNN, KYMA/KECY) - Five electric semi trucks went up in flames at the Nikola Headquarters in Phoenix Friday morning.
Company officials say they believe the fire may have been intentionally set. However, this is not the first time crews have battled fires involving electric vehicles.
Firefighters hoseddown five semi trucks again and again because even after the fire is out, they still need to cool down.
"We have elevated mass of stream, so we're doing our best to cool these cells down," said Captain Todd Keller of the Phoenix Fire Department.
"Nothing but smoke"
These trucks are from a company called Nikola. They make electric semi trucks and are powered by lithium ion batteries, the same as most electric cars.
Early Friday morning, five of them went up in flames.
"When I got here this morning, there was nothing but smoke all over the place," said one anonymous source.
Nikola tweeted that they believe the fire was arson. The company said a vehicle was seen in the area before the trucks caught on fire.
Thermal runaway
"They're not wasting any time. They have been watering it down since at least I've been here," the anonymous source added.
Not wasting time because firefighters know electric car fires are a different beast. The batteries burn hot and they burn long.
"Our main concern is obviously the safety of the public, the safety of our firefighters. But to cool these cells down and prevent them from reigniting. What happens is called thermal runaway," Keller detailed.
Thermal runaway was the same thing that kept catching a Tesla on fire in Scottsdale a few weeks ago.
Waymo
It's the same thing crews were worried about when a self-driving electric Waymo car caught fire in downtown Phoenix too.
Phoenix Fire says these trucks are just like that, only they have a lot more batteries.
"We have been working with Nikola representatives and they actually said that these semis have outlets on top of the batteries we can insert our hose lines to help cool down these batteries," Keller spoke.
No one was injured in friday's fire.
