Woman Wakes Up to Nightmare Happening Outside Home as Her EV Goes Up in Flames

By Johnathan Jones August 8, 2023 at 3:12pm

A Massachusetts woman woke up Saturday morning to find her electric vehicle engulfed in flames in her driveway.

A firefighter who was among those dispatched to put out the blaze told the local media the fire could have been disastrous had the owner decided to park the vehicle in her garage.

WCVB-TV reported a woman named Ann Thomas woke up at around 4:15 a.m. Saturday to a strange sound.

She and her husband looked in the driveway of their Wareham home and saw their 2021 Chevrolet Bolt smoking. Thomas heard a sound before the car eventually caught fire.

“It sounded like a big poof. And he looked to the window, and he saw the smoke,” Thomas said.

Moments later, the car was completely engulfed in flames.

Firefighters were called to the scene and put the fire out not once, but twice.

Initial efforts to combat the blaze were successful. But about 30 minutes after the situation appeared to be under control, the fire reignited.

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The Wareham Fire Department, which spent hours at the scene, said 11,000 gallons of water were used to put out the blaze.

“We had to control the hazard we had there and try to cool off the batteries. We’re very fortunate — a few weeks before that we bought some specialized equipment to help us with that type of job,” Chief John Kelley said. “So we’re very fortunate, we did use that that morning.”

Kelley told WCVB the initial fire was spontaneous and that when the burned-out vehicle was taken to a nearby junkyard, it was kept away from other cars over fears it could have ignited a third time.

Thomas said that at the time of the fire, she was waiting for a new lithium-ion battery as hers had been recalled.

“But they had no batteries to give us. So, we were waiting,” she told WCVB.

She also said she is rethinking the idea of ever driving another electric vehicle.

“I mean, I could have been driving that thing. I mean, that could have been so much worse, you know?” she said. “We could have lost our home and our camper.”

Kelley also warned of the dangers of electric vehicles, which are notoriously challenging to put out and keep out.

“If this vehicle had been parked in a garage the results could have been disastrous,” the fire chief said. “Additionally, electric vehicle fires are difficult to fight and present unique challenges.”

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