Queens townhouse fire that injured 4 people sparked by lithium-ion battery: officials
abc7ny.com

Power tools with lithium-ion batteries sparked fire in Queens, commissioner says
abc7ny.com

Battery inside children's book sparks car fire in North Carolina: officials
abc7ny.com

etc., etc, etc.

The problem with a lithium battery fire in, say, a car is that it burns so intensely that it is difficult to put out.

Collateral Damages of Hard-to-extinguish Electric Cars
fireisolator.com

... With the rise of electric vehicles all over the world, comes a great risk as well. Driving a car that is better for the environment is obviously great, but what happens when an electric vehicle catches fire? And why are EV car fires so dangerous to their surroundings? In this article, we tell you all about the collateral damages of EV fires.

Why are Electric Vehicle fires so hard to extinguish?

Even though EVs are less likely to catch fire than regular cars, when they do, the fire will be much more intense and very hard to extinguish. The key difference between extinguishing a traditional car fire and an EV fire lies in the lithium-ion battery. Most electric vehicle fires emerge when this battery is getting charged.

When a cell of the battery overheats, it can enter a process that is called Thermal Runaway'. The cells in the battery will keep overheating themselves very quickly, causing a fire and in some cases, an explosion.

Because the battery cells keep accelerating, the EV car fire cannot simply be put out with water.

It will take hours, maybe even days, to put out a fire like this with just water. And how longer it takes to put out the EV car fire, the more chance of collateral damage. ...

Is it the likelihood of a fire or the extent of the possible cost resulting from that fire that needs to be considered?