A number of houses were evacuated on Monday night due to a car fire on the Laan through the Panakkers in Nuenen. The battery pack of an electric car was on fire, which released toxic white smoke. Around a quarter past three the fire was under control and residents were able to return home.
The fire brigade was initially called up for a house fire, but when they arrived around a quarter to three, an electric car was lit up in a driveway next to a house.
Bang
Hard bangs could be heard and the flames struck out of the car. The fire brigade had difficulty extinguishing the battery pack. The battery caught fire again and again. A lot of white smoke was released when extinguishing.
Smoke from a battery is extremely toxic and extremely sour. That is why adjacent houses were evacuated for a short time. Two children of a family received a trauma bear from the fire brigade to recover from the shock.
Plunge
The fire was under control around a quarter past three. A submersible bin somewhere from the country has to come on site, because the fire brigade in Eindhoven does not have such a container. The car must remain under water for some time, so that the heat disappears and the battery does not continue to smolder.
It is not yet clear how the fire started. Local residents would have heard a car drive away hard, after which the fire started. The police are investigating the fire.
New fire extinguish
White smoke and flocks are alarm signals for the fire brigade in a fire in an electric car. To extinguish the fire in such a car faster, the fire brigade has a new extinguishing method. The battery of an electric car is extinguished with an ultra hedge pressure sprayer. With the high pressure and fine sand, the battery can then be extinguished in the core.
The method was used for the first time on Friday at a car fire in Breda. During the fire in Nuenen Monday night, this technique was not used and the car still has to be put into a immersion bin. The disadvantage of such a plunge is that the car sometimes has to be in 24 to 48 hours. Moreover, it takes a while for a salvage company to have brought the bin. “You only have 30 to 40 throughout the Netherlands,” said Hans van Riel, officer of the Safety Region Central and West Brabant, earlier.