Fire

Fire
Approach and extinguish a fire using proper vehicle fire fighting practices as recommended by NFPA, IFSTA, or the National Fire Academy (USA).

- Extinguishing Agent
Water has been proven to be a suitable extinguishing agent.

- Initial Fire Attack
Perform a fast, aggressive fire attack.
Divert the runoff from entering watershed areas.
Attack teams may not be able to identify a HS250h until the fire has been knocked down and overhaul operations have commenced.

- Fire in the HV Battery Pack
Should a fire occur in the NiMH HV battery pack, attack crews should utilize a water stream or fog pattern to extinguish any fire within the trunk except for the HV battery pack.

WARNING:
- The NiMH battery electrolyte is a caustic alkaline (pH 13.5) that is damaging to human tissues. To avoid injury by coming in contact with the electrolyte, wear proper personal protective equipment.
- The battery modules are contained within a metal case and accessibility is limited.
- To avoid serious injury or death from severe burns or electric shock, never breach or remove the high voltage battery pack cover under any circumstance including fire.

When allowed to burn themselves out, the HS250h NiMH battery modules burn rapidly and can quickly be reduced to ashes except for the metal.

Offensive Fire Attack
Normally flooding a NiMH HV battery pack with copious amounts of water at a safe distance will effectively control the HV battery pack fire by cooling the adjacent NiMH battery modules to a point below their ignition temperature. The remaining modules on fire, if not extinguished by the water, will burn themselves out.

However, flooding the HS250h HV battery pack is not recommended due to the battery case design and location preventing the responder from properly applying water through the available vent openings safely. Therefore, it is recommended that the incident commander allow the HS250h HV battery pack to burn itself out.

Defensive Fire Attack
If the decision has been made to fight the fire using a defensive attack, the fire attack crew should pull back a safe distance and allow the NiMH battery modules to burn themselves out. During this defensive operation, fire crews may utilize a water stream or fog pattern to protect exposures or to control the path of smoke.