Presented here are the results of the interviews with rescue leaders in Stockholm and Göteborg regions, Rescue Services South/Malmö as well as firefighters in Göteborg and Malmö. First the different rescue services are presented in addition with their attitudes towards and experience with electrical vehicles. This is followed by their responses of how they would act in the four scenarios according to their perceived experience and knowledge.
4.2.1 Interviews at the rescue services
Storstockholms brandförsvar (SSBF), the largest rescue services organization in Sweden, involves cooperation among ten municipalities; it employs approximately 750 firefighters at 15 fire stations and provides rescue services for 1.1 million people. All SSBF firefighters have undergone specialized education, including training in operations involving car accidents, and some of them have specialized knowledge of particular areas. The nearest fire station responds to the accident alarm, and special competence is called from other stations as needed. The rescue services lead the operations at car accidents.
According to the interviewee, SSBF has little experience with EVs, and there are probably firefighters who have never attended an accident involving a BEV. They have received information about EVs from personal contacts, MSB, and contacts with the Swedish car manufacturers Volvo and Saab. SSBF has no technical help systems today, but the SSBF interviewee thinks that eCall would help reduce the time between call and response and that it would be a good system to link to the Crash Recovery System (CRS), which SSBF plans to buy for five new vehicles. “Electricity is something that many are worried about. We get questions about EVs during training and the guidelines say to be careful with orange cables when cutting through vital supporting parts of the car. I have heard that there is no danger to your life or of electricity running through your body, but if you feel your nose starting to itch, you should back off. The high risk today is our lack of knowledge – I see that as the worst problem. The recommendation is that we should keep on working and using the same routines as we have used before”.
Räddningstjänsten Storgöteborg (RSG) is a rescue service organization serving six municipalities and 794,000 inhabitants. A total of approximately 500 firefighters work for RSG, and there are four specialized fire stations, each with 30 personnel who are specifically educated to handle traffic accidents. These specialized firefighters can help during first calls in severe accidents if there are problems, for example, with electrical vehicles. These specialists have better tools, more knowledge, and more training than the rank-and-file firefighters. There is a contact person at every station who is also a specialist responsible for training, seeking information, and maintaining international contacts. During the interviews, it became apparent that knowledge of electrical vehicles varies among firefighters. In most cases, members of the public arrive first at the accident scene, followed by the rescue services, the ambulance, and finally the police. There is little cooperation between RSG and the ambulance service or police due to a lack of time and resources. MSB has a web-based training programme that the interviewees from RSG find useful, though they are hesitant about the quality of the training outcome. RSG is positive about eCall and, because they have CRS and can get information about EV risks from MSB, they find themselves able to handle most EV models. “It is not so easy to see whether a car is a hybrid, but we have a system to help us determine this. We would like to see a standard for how to deal with accidents involving EVs. We are kind of left in the dark, but have some vehicle models we know how to handle”.
RSG has some experience of accidents with various EV models. The firefighters learned early on to disconnect the electricity while wearing insulating gloves and they got information from EV manufacturers. RSG is close to Volvo Cars laboratory, and the interviewed firefighters think that RSG gets good information from Volvo, but that there are several other EV models that they know little about. According to tests from the USA, smoke from battery fires is very toxic, so RSG is hesitant to expose anyone to it. The standard is to extinguish car fires with water, and this applies to EVs as well. They do not think that there is a great risk of arcing or short circuits/electric shocks.” We do not regard EVs as exceptionally dangerous unless we have to cut them up or we see damage to the battery”. “We cannot be afraid of doing something, because we have to take care of the crash victims”.
Räddningstjänsten Syd is a rescue services organization working for five municipalities (including Malmö) with 513,000 inhabitants. It has approximately 350 employees, 25% of whom work part time. All its units can respond to traffic accidents, but two of the fire stations have special skills for dealing with heavy vehicles and complicated operations. When a severe accident occurs, one of these two stations gets the call. The interviewees think that Räddningstjänsten Syd is not very experienced at handling accidents involving EVs, but is learning from accident investigations and training. Accidents with EVs have happened, but not everyone gets information about these cases because the operation reports, which are sent to MSB, are not followed up. The information often stays with the people involved in the operation. The Räddningstjänsten Syd interviewees think that the particular risks with EVs are short circuits along with risk of fire, electrical shocks, and leakage from the battery/high-voltage system. They think that it is difficult to identify how a car is powered, and that it is impossible to know every vehicle model in Europe. To identify cars, Räddningstjänsten Syd is now evaluating CSR, but the interviewees point out that education is required to handle CSR, understand the risks identified, and handle them properly. Stockholm, Göteborg, and Syd/Malmö regions have more time for these matters than do small, part-time units. “We always work following a standard, not special routines or instructions depending on different types of vehicles or car models”. “The rescue services need a system, a way to operate that functions everywhere, regardless of car model. We have to work in a general way, we cannot know every detail – that is too much to keep track of”.
Räddningstjänsten Syd uses water to put out fires in EVs and has not tried other types of fire extinguishers. Regardless of whether they are responding to a traffic accident or a fire in a car, the responders all use protective equipment, such as protective respirators, and must be prepared for explosions. “If you ask the manufacturers, they say that it is almost impossible for anything to happen to them (i.e., the batteries). But something could happen, and then you could get leakage of all sorts of fluids, toxic gases, and also hydrogen. Then you have to work with a lot of ventilation, know the risks, and be able to handle them”.
4.2.2 The rescue services’ handling of the four accident scenarios
Below are the results of the interviews with firefighters from the three Swedish regions, written from their perspectives and in their voices. First, each scenario is presented. This is followed by a summary of the responses from the firefighters in the three Swedish regions.
Identification of the vehicle at the accident scene is done based on experience and by looking for a label on the car or a power outlet. If vehicles are severely damaged, the identification is difficult.
A single-car accident involving a BEV car on a 90 km/h road: The car drives off the road onto the shoulder and spins around. The vehicle is partially deformed in the front and rear, though there are no clear signs of battery leakage. The car may still be in the driving setting/in gear, although the wheels are still. The ignition key/circuit breaker cannot be reached. People remain in the car, partly trapped and needing help to get out. The first at the scene is the ambulance crew, who can communicate with the BEV driver. There are standard routines that set out every task for every firefighter arriving at an accident scene. One firefighter is responsible for protecting the others from fire. If people are trapped in a car, the firefighters take out the fire extinguishers. Sometimes there is a problem turning off the ignition, because often the car doesn’t have a key, or the ignition switch cannot be reached. If the firefighters cannot turn off the ignition, they have to work very carefully so that the airbags do not inflate, which poses a risk to both the rescuers and those being rescued.
Response:
The firefighters do not consider it dangerous to walk up to the vehicle, but there is some concern about electric shocks when cutting open a car that has been deformed in a crash. At first, they try to locate any orange cables, often placed in the supporting frame and in the middle of the car. The routine is to disconnect the 12-volt battery. “We know that we cannot cut orange cables”. “If I had my Ipad (with CRS), I would have searched for information”. There are various approaches, for example: “When it is an electrical vehicle, everyone thinks more and does not cut as much, but works with tools instead.”, “We are not good at all and get worried when we see these vehicles”. “Just because it is an EV, we don’t see increased danger – there are other risks, like airbags”.
The electricity in most EVs can be switched off in one handgrip, but it is done in different ways in different models – “We would like it if all cars had one switch of the same colour in the same place”. But it could also be different ways to switch off the electricity and sometimes the switch is difficult to reach. “Even though an EV is out of power, one should still not cut the cables”. “All firefighters should know that the cables are often placed in the centre of the floor of the car – this is a matter of education”. The interviewees think that there is generally little experience of EVs in Sweden.
The firefighters do not believe that electric shocks from the car’s body are a risk with EVs. They think that shock risks arise only when they have to use force to get the crash victim out of the car or if there is leakage from the battery. They know that if high-voltage cables get damaged and come into contact with the chassis there will be a short circuit and arcing can occur. If there is a short circuit, however, the fuses will take care of the problem. “I have no evidence of how dangerous it is or of how great the electric shock risk is for EVs, but it is worrying. We have not had this type of accident yet, though”. At one station, the interviewees say that firefighters wear rubber gloves when working, and that some fire trucks are equipped to be able to disconnect the electricity in EVs. At another station, firefighters say that certain car manufacturers advise them to wear the special gloves that electricians wear, but that they don’t have such gloves. “We don’t expose ourselves to any deadly risks”.
Two passenger cars collide. One car is a BEV car and the other is a biogas-powered car. There are large frontal deformations of both vehicles, and both drivers are severely injured and trapped in the cars, unconscious. At first sight, the drivers seem to be very injured, as they have a hard time breathing and their blood circulation is impaired. Immediate action is required: getting them out of the cars, first aid treatment, and transportation to hospital. The battery pack in the BEV is out in the open and damaged, the batteries are leaking unknown fluids, and both vehicles and probably both drivers are also contaminated.
Response:
The interviewees assume that it requires great violence for battery leakage to occur, because the high-voltage batteries are placed in the safest position in the car, i.e., in the centre, near the back, and encapsulated in a box for protection. A critical, very dangerous situation is when they must get the occupants out of a car as fast as possible. How they act depends on how much leakage there is from the battery and whether or not the fluid is toxic. If someone has come into contact with toxic fluid, the foremen must increase the safety level and implement decontamination. As long as there is no steam, the battery fluid can be washed away and personnel must avoid coming into contact with the fluid. If there is gas leakage, a fan can be used to blow the gas away, and if it leaks a little, they spray foam around it to prevent fire: “Cutting someone loose in this situation is not fun.” “You recognize the smell of gas and some people know what the old batteries smell like, but the new ones…?” “We will cut and take out the victims, and then we have the security firefighter spray water if something might happen to the battery. It is crucial to get the injured people out”. The interviewees find that they have little knowledge of situations involving chemicals, and seeking information from car manufacturers about the fluids in batteries is difficult. It is the effect of the chemicals that is the big worry: “The absorbent takes care of the chemicals, but you wonder what is leaking. You want to know afterwards what you have been dealing with – was it very toxic?”
Smoke is seen coming from a parked electrical vehicle charging in the underground parking garage of a large shopping centre, at 2:00 pm on a Saturday. The cause of the fire is unclear, and the way to the smoking car passes within at least 50 m of other vehicles filled with diesel, petrol, or ethanol.
Response:
A fire in a parking garage requires a big operation and poses great risks to the firefighters. One cannot simply let it burn: the fire has to be limited in some way, as otherwise it could cause structural weakness in the building. “It is an adventure even to reach the burning car – it is very difficult in these underground parking garages. One must ventilate and evacuate them to get in safely”. Protection for all the firefighters must be ensured, and it can take a long time to get inside if there is a lot of smoke. The centre of the fire can be located using a heat camera, but if it is only smoking, there is nothing to help the firefighters find the burning car. When they get to the car they have to identify it as an EV; it could be difficult to see small lettering in the smoke, but hopefully they can see the cord leading to the charger. They can put out the fire with foam, but the foam disappears quickly. “Fires in garages are a big problem for us, but electrical vehicles are not so dangerous. I would say that we have a car fire in an underground parking garage almost every week, so this is not an unusual scenario for us. The fact that it is in a shopping centre with a lot of people is not so common”. There are fires in vehicles every day, and the interviewees think that they might have put out fires in many EVs without realizing it. They say that the approach to safety is completely different compared with ten years ago, because it is more dangerous when cars burn now, both because of what you get on your body and because of the fumes you breathe in. The interviewees think that the more expensive a car, the more dangerous it is, and if it is built out of carbon fibre, the risk is similar to that of asbestos.
During a storm with flooding, a petrol-electric hybrid becomes stuck in the water underneath a bridge. The driver calls emergency services to say that the car’s occupants cannot get out of the car and will drown if they do not receive immediate help.
Response:
The firefighters are unsure whether or not a submerged car will be conductive: “Yes, water conducts electricity. I have also posed that question and not got an answer”. If nothing has damaged the car, they believe that there is no danger. They remember one situation in which some people were trapped in a car submerged in water and couldn’t get the doors to open. In that case, they lifted the car out of the water. “I don’t think that we should be scared of getting an electric shock. We should just go in and take them out. The car is only stuck because of the water; it has not crashed. We only have to get the door open and get the person out – I don’t think we should consider this dangerous”. Some have got information from manufacturers that their EVs react to water exposure by automatically turning off the high-voltage system. They assume that they should therefore have treated this electrical vehicle in the same way as an ordinary car.