Tesla Goes Up In Flames Weeks After Crash That Didn't Involve Fire

According to reports issued by Metro Fire of Sacramento, firefighters from the unit recently experienced their first Tesla fire. Interestingly, it wasn't at the scene of an accident, but rather, at a wrecking yard.

As the story goes, the Tesla Model S was totaled in an accident, and it had been sitting at the Sacramento yard for about three weeks. Based on reports, despite the accident, the electric car had never caught fire prior to the incident at the yard, which makes this an interesting case.

 

As you can see from the brief video, the Tesla electric car is certainly not just sparking up or smoldering. This is a full-on fire engulfing the car, with clouds of thick black smoke clouding the air around the area. 

The fire department shared that the firefighters were able to put out the flames, though the car kept re-igniting thanks to thermal runaway from the Tesla's battery pack. After turning the car over and learning that the battery pack was continuously re-igniting, the team went to great lengths in order to get the fire to go out and stay out. They dug a pit, placed the car inside, and filled the pit with water.

One Twitter user responded to the initial tweets saying that the firefighters should have finished putting the car out in the first place. It seems the person thought that perhaps the Model S had already been on fire after it recently crashed. However, Metro Fire of Sacramento responded that this was the car's first and only fire.

As far as the fire department was concerned, the car never caught fire at the scene of the crash, or for the three weeks prior to this incident unfolding. The department shared:

“This was the 1st and only. The vehicle sat parked in a wrecking yard for 3 wks after a vehicle accident (not involving fire), and then caught fire in the yard. Our crews were dispatched and ensured the vehicle was extinguished after well over an hour of firefighting operations."

 

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Fortunately, no one was injured at the wrecking yard. While Tesla has recently shared that fires are becoming less common among its vehicles, there have been a few other recent incidents that are concerning.

As we previously reported, a Tesla Model 3 caught fire in late May while parked (and not running or charging) in California City. Meanwhile, right around the same time, a Model Y started on fire while its owner was driving it in Canada, and NHTSA already requested information from Tesla. Check out the related stories below, and then leave us a comment.

See These Related Tesla Stories:

Tesla Model 3 Owner Provides Details On Recent EV Fire In California City

Tesla Model Y Catches Fire While Driving, Driver Struggled To Escape

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