Electric car and charging station may have caused house fire
An electric car and a hybrid vehicle both were destroyed in a North Attleboro fire.
By Matt Schooley
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NORTH ATTLEBORO, Massachusetts (WBZ) — An electric vehicle and its charging station may have sparked a house fire in Massachusetts early Sunday morning, firefighters believe.
North Attleboro house fire
Flames broke out around 12:30 a.m. on John C. Porter Way in North Attleboro.
The fire started in the garage and spread to the main house. An electric car and a hybrid vehicle were destroyed during the fire.
“Electric vehicles are a newer technology and there are still a lot of unanswered questions, but obviously when you’re dealing with electric vehicles with lithium ion batteries, the charging, the over-charging potentially of those all can cause fire hazards,” North Attleboro Fire Chief Chris Coleman said.
Solar panels on the home’s roof also complicated firefighters’ efforts.
No one was hurt during the fire.
Electric car fires
In 2023, the WBZ-TV I-Team reported on the dangers of fires involving electric vehicles.
Batteries in the vehicles can be hard to get to, flames are difficult to put out, and stranded energy that remains can easily reignite.
One Massachusetts fire chief said fires involving electric vehicles “just don’t go out.”
The National Fire Prevention Association was offering training to first responders, showing how to deal with electric car fires.
Additionally, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) also shared video for fire departments and made several recommendations to auto manufacturers including, providing easy to access, clear information on how to put out battery fires, how to move the car and safely store it.
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