The IFD response procedure uses fire blankets and water jets to prevent the spread of fire, but, as the IFR Commissioner pointed out, they are not intended to extinguish the flames. The Commissioner explained that the large number of electric vehicle models poses an additional safety risk, as each model has distinct vulnerabilities.

These include places where the firefighters cannot cut into the car during a rescue, due to the risk of high-voltage electrocution.

He told the conference that untrained people should not perform these operations due to the extreme risks of injury from the fire, gases emitted, and electric shocks if done incorrectly.

The risks increase in underground parking garages. As these fires cannot be extinguished, the garage can quickly fill with dangerous smoke, potentially trapping people trying to get to their cars.

Similarly, in an elevator, if the lithium battery in an electric bicycle or scooter catches on fire, it takes only 17 seconds for the elevator car to fill with smoke and become a death trap for all inside.

The same can happen in train cars. Caspi noted that Israel Railways had begun an advertising campaign encouraging passengers to charge their electric bikes and scooters on trains, but the IFR shut it down because the risk of thermal runaway increases during charging.

Going forward, the IFR will publish an updated procedure for handling electric vehicles to prevent the public from endangering themselves in futile attempts to extinguish fires caused by thermal runaway in lithium-ion batteries.