Firefighters Struggle as Junkyard Tesla Bursts Into Flames Weeks After Crash

One thing is putting out a fire in a car. It's one thing to put out a fire after it was taken to the junkyard.

The fire was the first for the city's fire department and it was confusing because water alone wouldn't put out the fire and the car had been sitting in a junkyard for three weeks.

The department's crews "knocked the fire down" after they were called to the scene, but the car was still burning when they left.

Crews arrived to our first Tesla fire. It was involved in an accident 3 wks ago, and was parked in a wrecking yard. Crews knocked the fire down but it kept reigniting/off-gassing in the battery compartment. Crews created a pit, placed the car inside, and filled the pit with water pic.twitter.com/Lz5b5770lO

— Metro Fire of Sacramento (@metrofirepio) June 12, 2022

It took a significant amount of time, water, and thinking outside the box for the firefighters to put out the junkyardTesla fire. With the help of scrap yard workers, they were able to flip the car over and try to put out the fire in the battery compartment. Even with direct penetration, the vehicle would reignite because of the residual heat.

For what it's worth, that's exactly what first responders should do when one of their cars catches on fire. Electric vehicle popularity is going to create new challenges for emergency personnel because it's good for the environment, but it's not good for them.

They were able to fully extinguish the fire after the firefighters and junkyard workers "created a small pit, placed the car inside it, and filled the pit with water," according to the SMFD's Facebook post.

Electric vehicle battery fires are nothing new.

The cars caught fire within a month of each other. That doesn't include the manyTeslas that catch fire while charging.

Insider revealed thatTesla sold cars with faulty batteries to cut costs. The Model S vehicles are vulnerable to cracking, so when the aluminum cracked and spilled into the battery packs, it would eat away at the batteries and cause them to explode.

It's alarming that this is still happening two years after it was revealed that the company knowingly sold cars with dangerous batteries, and a bad sign for the future of these cars.

The firstTesla fire kept reigniting, as seen in this video.

A lawsuit claims that a 3D printer caught fire and caused the death of a man.