California firefighters had to spray 50,000 gallons of water to extinguish a Tesla Semi blaze on the side of the road, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced in a statement. preliminary reportCrews also used an aircraft to drop fire retardant in the “immediate area as a precautionary measure,” the agency said.
The accident occurred at 3:13 a.m. on Aug. 19 on I-80 east of Sacramento. The tractor-trailer went off the road while going around a curve, struck a traffic marker and eventually struck a tree. The driver was uninjured but was taken to the hospital as a precaution.
The Tesla Semi’s massive 900-kWh battery caught fire, reaching temperatures of 1,000 degrees F as it belched out toxic fumes. It continued to burn into the afternoon as firefighters doused it with water to cool it down (Tesla sent a technical expert to assess high-voltage risks and fire safety). It wasn’t until 7:20 p.m. (more than 16 hours after the crash) that the highway was reopened.
All of this caught the attention of the NTSB, which sent a team The team of investigators has been mobilized to examine the fire risks posed by large lithium-ion battery packs. The agency, which can only make safety recommendations and has no enforcement authority, said “all aspects of the accident remain under investigation as the NTSB determines probable cause.”
Given the length of time the road was closed, the dangerously hot fire and the toxic fumes, the accident is likely to spark much debate inside and outside the government. The NTSB Completed in 2021 that battery fires pose a risk to emergency response personnel and that manufacturers' guidelines on such fires were inadequate.
