Lithium battery involved in fire at workshop
THE owner of Craig’s Motor Care is hopeful that the damage caused to his garage’s workshop by a vehicle fire which spread on Thursday evening will prove to be ‘not that bad’.
Investigations into what caused the fire at Craig Wilson’s business at Ville Baudu, near Vale Church, are ongoing, with Fire & Rescue confirming that the lithium-ion battery of an electric van belonging to Mr Wilson was involved in the incident.
Substantial damage has been caused to the workshop’s roof and sections of the interior, as well as the van itself.
All other vehicles in the workshop at the time of the fire were removed before they were damaged.
Mr Wilson said he did not know what might have caused the fire to begin, but added that it was almost certainly something to do with the van’s battery.
He was optimistic that repairing his premises would not take too long and hoped it would not be too costly.
‘Other than the roof, the damage is not that bad I don’t think,’ he said.
He added that boards in the roof were made of concrete, and so there was no risk of asbestos exposure to nearby residents, as was feared at the time of the fire.
Chief fire officer Jon Le Page said fire crews had been preparing for dealing with lithium-ion battery fires since they had become more prevalent on the island, adding that he believed this was the first fire in Guernsey to involve an electric vehicle.
‘Our preparedness was put into action yesterday and proved very successful, with the crews deploying a specially designed vehicle-sized fire blanket to contain and control the fire spread from the vehicle,’ he said.
‘Together with the deployment of two traditional water jets, the crews quickly had the majority of the blaze under control, and the damage was limited to the roof of the building and the workshop compartment in which the fire started.’
Mr Le Page said that lithium-ion batteries became involved in an unstoppable chemical reaction known as thermal runway once they were ignited, and during this reaction it was possible for the battery to reignite if the temperatures created were not controlled through cooling.
As a result, a fire crew had remained on scene overnight to monitor and control the ongoing decay of the lithium-ion battery.
‘When the battery is determined to have become stable and safe, a formal investigation into the cause of the fire will be started,’ Mr Le Page added.
