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Saskatchewan firefighters are advocating for special tools to help respond to potentially risky situations involving electric and hybrid vehicles — which are both a growing market and a growing concern in the province.
Demand is increasing and more electrically powered vehicles are out on the roads than ever before, but firefighters are aware of the risk those vehicles can pose after a crash.
(Trevor Warren/Submitted)
A resolution passed at this year’s annual Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association convention advocated for a special adapter tool to be provided to all Saskatchewan fire departments to help protect firefighters.
The adapter tool helps eliminate any existing charge in an electric or hybrid vehicle, entirely deactivating the electric component and reducing risk for first responders attempting to help in situations where an electric vehicle might have crashed.
Trevor Warren, vice president of the Saskatoon Firefighters Union Local 80 IAFF, said he’s very familiar with the tool.
“It will absolutely, 100 per cent, benefit firefighters in the province and in Saskatoon to be able to have this,” Warren stated.
“To have the ability to disable an electric vehicle is paramount to our safety.”
When responding to calls involving electric vehicles, Warren said firefighters face an unknown and potentially dangerous situation.
Electric vehicles often don’t make noise, so it can be hard to tell if they’re running once they’ve been in a crash. Firefighters also can’t use the tried-and-true trick of putting a hand on the hood to feel a vehicle’s vibrations and determine if it’s still running.
“Those days are gone,” Warren said.
Louis Cherpin, president of the Saskatchewan Volunteer Firefighters Association, agreed the tool would be beneficial to fire departments.
He said firefighters throughout the province are working to learn more about how to deal with emergencies involving electric vehicles properly, effectively and safely.
More information on electric vehicles is coming out every day, and even with proper evaluation of the scene, Cherpin explained that each electric or hybrid vehicle is different depending on the make and model, and its wires and cords are configured differently. That issue particularly affects situations with people still inside a vehicle that has been in a crash.
“There’s still voltage trickling through the lines until it completely drains down,” Cherpin said, explaining that this makes cutting wires precarious for first responders, especially in situations where they might have to remove someone from a vehicle or cut open the vehicle’s body.
Adding to that is the pressure of time and urgency, as situations where an individual has to be extracted from a vehicle often mean the person has been injured, Cherpin explained.
If a crashed electric vehicle is in drive and a person has their foot on the brake, Warren said the vehicle will begin moving once the person is removed, potentially hitting firefighters or members of the public.
Warren added that all of those situations become much more dangerous once fire is involved. Should an electric vehicle catch fire, Warren said it is much more difficult to extinguish than a burning gas-powered vehicle due to the nature of the batteries.
“We definitely don’t have enough water on a single fire truck to put that out once it gets going,” Warren said, explaining that “copious amounts” of water and firefighting foam are needed to extinguish that sort of fire.
With technology changing so rapidly, both Warren and Cherpin said fire departments are struggling to keep up with training and the constant stream of new information pertaining to electric vehicles.
Cherpin said his organization is doing everything possible to get instructors around the province trained and up to speed on techniques pertaining to electric vehicles so they can pass that knowledge on to other firefighters throughout Saskatchewan.
In Saskatoon, Warren said the city’s fire department has been proactive and already purchased two of the adapter tools in the past few months. They’ve been put on the city’s heavy rescue vehicles, which are often deployed to crash scenes.
He noted, however, that firefighters responding to lower-speed crashes might have to call and wait for that tool to arrive when it’s needed.
To have more of the adapters in the province would be a “tremendous opportunity” for Saskatchewan to improve on safety for firefighters and the general public, Warren said.