Kennewick Fire’s Lithium Ion Battery Fire ‘Combat’ Skills On Display

You will likely be seeing some video footage in the next few days following Kennewick and other fire crews training to fight battery fires.

  Kennewick And Other Responders Get Hands-On Training

The Fire Training Center on South Ely St. in Kennewick might be putting up some smoke, as crews will be receiving hands-on training as to the best ways to put out lithium ion battery fires.

According to the City of Kennewick,  the Southeast Washington Special Operations Group, hosted on March 12 by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Washington State Department of Ecology and the Washington State Fire Marshal's Office will be on hand.

  You Can't Just Dump A Little Water and Go

The reason why lithium ion batteries, whether they're in a vehicle or an energy storage facility or elsewhere, are so hard to put out is because they provide their own oxygen.

If you've ever blown on a campfire, or watched video of a furnace, blowing oxygen into a fire makes it burn bigger and hotter.  Due to the chemicals in lithium ion batteries, they actually create their own oxygen when set on fire.

The complicated process is called a "thermal runaway," and can often burn at temperatures near or over 1000 degrees celcius, which in a more familiar language, is 537 degrees farenheit.

  Huge Amounts of Water Must be Expended

Because of this, enormous amounts of water have to be doused on these fires, in order to choke out the thermal runaway.

READ More: Florida Officials Warned of Spontanious Battery Fires in EV's After Hurricane Milton in 2024.

These Kennewick and other crews will be learning the newest and best practices for containment and batting down these kind of blazes. Besides cooling down the battery cells, there are several dry chemicals that can help the process.

The training event is from 9-5, the media only demonstration is around 2PM.