A December 19th three-alarm fire at the GM Factory Zero plant in Detroit and Hamtramck caused approximately $1.3 million in damage according to a new report, with destroyed EV batteries and other goods and equipment accounting for $1 million of the losses and $300,000 consisting of damage to factory buildings.
Crain’s Detroit Business obtained details of the monetary loss from the damage following a Freedom of Information Act request that put a detailed incident report into the hands of the news website’s writers.
Firefighters initially had trouble finding the fire inside Factory Zero, which covers 11.6 million square feet. Detroit Fire Department chief of fire prevention Dennis Hunter remarked on the need for “someone or a system that can tell us exactly where the fire is located so we’re not driving all around the plant trying to find the area.”
Once the firefighters located the fire, it took approximately seven hours for them to extinguish it. The crew used EV car fire blankets given to them by factory personnel as well as “copious amounts of water and foam” to battle the blaze, which had enveloped a stack of five pallets of EV batteries next to a loading dock.
Finally, the firefighters were able to remove the pallets from the building using several GM forklifts after being quickly instructed in their operation. The incident report says “some of the remaining battery packs did ignite and the others were continually ‘off gassing’” as they were removed from the building interior via forklift.
Every one of the 60 to 100 firefighters at the site was exposed to the vapors produced by the burning EV batteries. Once a lithium-ion EV battery ignites it begins to produce toxic vapor almost immediately, with hydrogen fluoride as one of the most dangerous byproducts. Hydrogen fluoride burns skin and destroys lung tissue, as well as quickly invading the human body, and unlike typical smoke is heavier than air, meaning it forms a layer near the ground that is difficult to avoid.
The Detroit Fire Department personnel used self-contained breathing apparatus, though notably the pulmonary effects of exposure to lithium-ion off-gas can take weeks to develop. One firefighter also slipped and fell during the firefighting effort, sustaining a moderately severe back injury requiring hospitalization.
The fire allegedly started when a forklift ran into a pallet of batteries and punctured several with its forks, causing them to ignite. Production of EVs quickly resumed at the factory, which was initially fully evacuated until the fire was brought under control. However, chief of fire prevention Dennis Hunter said there have been constant fire and emergency calls to Factory Zero since it started operation, whereas such calls to factories building ICE vehicles are extremely rare.
Hunter said the steady stream of calls is “taxing” to emergency workers and that the fire department is “working with [GM] to improve how they handle these EV batteries going into thermal runoff or catching fire” in an effort to reduce future blazes. He also spoke of the resource drain from repeatedly having “four, eight or 12 fire apparatuses at their location, depending on the size of the fire.”
GM spokeswoman Tara Kuhnen stated that not all calls to the local fire department are fire or battery related, and in some cases, the incidents were quickly contained without assistance from firefighters. She added, “we take each occurrence seriously with full investigations and appropriate actions to avoid future incidents.”
Factory Zero produces the GMC Hummer EV Pickup, the GMC Hummer EV SUV, and the Chevy Silverado EV, with more EV models to be added in the future.
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Comments
“Once a lithium-ion EV battery ignites it begins to produce toxic vapor almost immediately, with hydrogen fluoride as one of the most dangerous. Hydrogen fluoride burns skin and destroys lung tissue, as well as quickly invading the human body, and unlike typical smoke is heavier than air, meaning it forms a layer near the ground that is difficult to avoid.”
That does NOT sound healthy nor environmentally friendly.
Yea, I want to buy one !!!! People call your insurance company and get a quote on a EV , you will change your mind, I did.
Just don’t drive forklifts in your garage and puncture your car.
They should use What 3 words to locate things at big places like that
Agreed Chris. My previous response disappeared. I don’t know why, because I simply agreed that What 3 Words is gathering speed, as the most useful way to pinpoint locations anywhere on the planet within few meters.
More emergency response and rescue teams are adopting W3W.
I have it on my dash cam and the phone app too. It’s accurate to within about 15 feet from where I’m sitting in my living room.
I really don’t understand why people on this site frequently down vote something that has a positive effect.
Like I want one of those fire hazards in my garage. No thanks.
I love it when people say things like this, meanwhile, they have 10+ gallons of fuel in their garages. The number of EV fires in the US since modern EVs came out over a decade ago is less than the number of ICE car fires last year. I’m talking about fires not caused by accidents.
Only because there are fewer electric vehicles.
Another huge fire at a Iithium battery facility! How many fires in cars or plants is enough? I can’t believe people are this ignorant or completly clueless to see that this crap will Not work! It is a Huge scam they are forcing on us and people Still are not waking up to see this is a Total fiasco! The only benefit is the folks in 5he White House are making a killing on it, and obviously the car makers too. They are betting as this is the next great thing, even though they Know this is a Giant Scam! Wake The Hell Up People!!
What is the scam?
That they’re good for the environment.
GM’s leadership- “What could go wrong?”
Happy that the workers got out safely. Seems like crap always rolls down hill. The forklift driver ?
Sure! That’s what happen. B.S
I’m guessing they had cameras that caught what actually happened, rather than just throwing out a scenario. Ironically, it was a “trained & certified” forklift driver that punctured a few batteries… so let’s give firefighters a crash course on how to operate a forklift to move the batteries when they’re on fire!
This is all new technology and it’s going to take a while to learn how to safely deal with the hazards. Hopefully GM will quickly learn and these incidents will become rare. I don’t think we should abandon electric cars like some people are hoping.
GM thinks batteries are the solution. God only knows what the question is. I guess batteries are better than extention cords.
As a firefighter and a GM shareholder, why don’t i feel sorry for Genral Motors?
Miniature Chernobyls .
And the craziest people in ANY factory are the fork drivers. Don’t ask me why. But they ARE !
You’re right. I worked in a large manufacturing facility 1980 & knew 2 of them. The younger one 28 or so would come around corners on two wheels when he didn’t have a loaded pallet. Never actually turned one over that I ever heard. The other was an older guy, recovering alcoholic, & he drove an oversized forklift. I saw him lift up a smaller forklift 4-5 feet off the ground & then it slid off his forks. Of course oil & antifreeze come pouring out, & he just laughed & shouted “tell them Charlie pulled another one” & drove off.
People want EV’s for one reason. Status symbol. Sorry, but I don’t care about status. I care about safe, reliable and proven transportation. Keep the ICE coming. The EV era is decades away.
It’s seriously time to rethink if EV’s are going to save the planet. Not saying they don’t have a place but maybe we need to slow down the rush to electrify everything until we better understand the pluses and minuses of EV’s.
Slow down what? GM sold less than 100k EVs last year , compared to 2.5M ICE sales is the US. People are worried about GMs 2035 plans. Right now only Cadillac has plans to move 100% EV by 2030 (that’s 6 years). Given the Lyriq makes up 10% of Cadillac sales and potentially 25% this year, EVs seem to be a good bet form them.
GM will keep adjusting to where the marketing is going. They can’t wake up one day and say we’re doing EVs. It takes money and planning. Right now they are in better shape than Ford. Ford will have to spend a lot of money to get to where GM is now and the cost are more. GM started a lot of this when things were a lot cheaper. Those $2.5 billion battery plants are closer to $4 billion to build today.
I don’t agree with this … as the same can be said about many ICE cars. Cadillac V series and blackwing, Mercedes Benz AMGs, BMW M series, Porsche, the list goes on and on. People buy EVs because they bought in to the b.s. the government pushed about tailpipe emissions (which is factual that they produce zero emissions compared to an ice car). What they don’t want people to know is all the extensive pollution that occurs from mining, refining, and shipping the minerals necessary to create the batteries. They also don’t want people to hear about how bad the EV’s dead battery is for the environment. Another reason people buy an EV is because they have their own solar power, so it’s free to charge their cars at home.
I like my plugin hybrid Volt … because I can drive halfway across the country without having to stop for 30-40 minutes every 200 miles or so, and I don’t have to plan my route based on where I MIGHT be able to find a charger! 40+ mpg on the gas engine. I think GM really screwed up by giving up on the Voltec technology. Now, Dodge is taking advantage of that tech, and they are doing what GM SHOULD have done … They’re putting it in a 1/2 ton Ram truck! Way to go Mary!
EV batteries are recycled in many different ways. If they still have life the are used in secondary uses like energy storage. Once the are dead they are recycled and the lithium, nickel, cobalt and aluminum extracted and sold again to make new batteries at a fraction of the cost of mining the materials. The elements aren’t destroyed when the battery is dead, Technically, batteries could be recycled forever.
Also GM didn’t give up on PHEV like the Volt. They sell them in China. The problem is they are expensive with two different drivetrains and are more complicated. So in the end they cost about the same price as an electric, have less performance, more maintenance, but the can go further between fill-ups.
A modern auto has multiple devices throughout its wiring to prevent short circuits. There must be some device that can prevent a battery from turning into a fireball!
Battery pack fires are not fireballs. They are just hard to put out if you use only water.
Also this was caused by a forklift punchuring a pack. That isn’t something that normally happens.
If someone can figure this out, they’ll be a billionaire!
You can’t extinguish a lithium fire with water! Lithium is a combustible metal that requires a different extinguishing agent. If the fire department is concerned about the number of times they are responding to a fire at a specific location, LISTEN TO THEM!
Having been inside this plant multiple times one thing stands out, there is trash (cardboard, busted pallets etc) everywhere and no signs that anyone cares. If anything in the place catches fire it’s likely to find a lot of something combustible nearby.