Decatur hosts EV fire response class after fatal electric‑car blaze

DECATUR, Ala. (WAFF) - It’s specialized training that’s needed more often with more electric cars on the road.

On Friday, fire and rescue squads from three different states met in Decatur to learn more about fighting fires in those cars.

Decatur Fire and Rescue hosted the Alabama Fire College electric vehicle response class to help keep firefighters up to date on what officials say is an ever-changing topic.

Brandon Sivley from Decatur Fire said electric vehicle fires have become a problem all over the United States.

Earlier this month, Decatur Fire assisted in an EV fire where a young mother died.

Sivley said the purpose of today’s class is to stay up to date on how these fires work.

He said they learned about what they need to do to mitigate these fires and what kind of response they need to have.

Sivley adds that technology changes every day, and this is why it is important to stay up to date on these topics.

“We try to always make sure our guys are the latest updates just like the instructor was saying, they change on a daily basis. for the lithium-ion and the EV type vehicles. So we want to make sure we keep as up to date as possible and just keep our guys as safe as possible,” said Sivley.

Decatur Fire was joined by Huntsville and Madison Fire and Rescue along with several other agencies from Alabama, Florida and Georgia.

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