Electric car 'sets huge cargo ship on fire in North Sea': One sailor dead

hollydolly

hollydolly

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,,,,,and 23 evacuated from burning 18,500-tonne container ship carrying 3,000 cars​

At least one crew member died and several others were injured overnight after a fire broke out on a huge car carrier ship off the Dutch coast, the coastguard said, with the cause believed to have been an electric vehicle catching alight.

Rescue helicopters and boats evacuated 23 crew members from the Panamanian-registered Fremantle Highway, a 18,500-tonne car-carrying vessel with almost 3,000 vehicles on-board. Officials have said there are 'many' wounded.

At least seven crew members jumped overboard and were rescued from the water, while the rest were airlifted by helicopter.

As of midday, the ship was said to be burning out of control in the North Sea and rescue vessels were working to save it from sinking close to an important habitat.

'Around midnight the Coast Guard received a report that the Fremantle Highway is on fire,' the Dutch coastguard said. 'The crew tried to put out the fire themselves, but failed. Unfortunately one person died and several others were injured.

The coastguard said that the incident happened about 17 miles (14.5 nautical miles) north of the northern island of Ameland. Images taken from shore showed a long plume of grey smoke drifting over the sea from the stricken 650-foot shi
73624799-12338705-The_Fremantle_Highway_shown_on_fire_is_a_18_500_tonne_car_carryi-m-20_1690359419538.jpg

73629669-12338705-image-a-26_1690367824176.jpg

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...Sea-Holland-electric-vehicle-caught-fire.html
 

hollydolly said:

,,,,,and 23 evacuated from burning 18,500-tonne container ship carrying 3,000 cars​

At least one crew member died and several others were injured overnight after a fire broke out on a huge car carrier ship off the Dutch coast, the coastguard said, with the cause believed to have been an electric vehicle catching alight.

Rescue helicopters and boats evacuated 23 crew members from the Panamanian-registered Fremantle Highway, a 18,500-tonne car-carrying vessel with almost 3,000 vehicles on-board. Officials have said there are 'many' wounded.

At least seven crew members jumped overboard and were rescued from the water, while the rest were airlifted by helicopter.

As of midday, the ship was said to be burning out of control in the North Sea and rescue vessels were working to save it from sinking close to an important habitat.

'Around midnight the Coast Guard received a report that the Fremantle Highway is on fire,' the Dutch coastguard said. 'The crew tried to put out the fire themselves, but failed. Unfortunately one person died and several others were injured.

The coastguard said that the incident happened about 17 miles (14.5 nautical miles) north of the northern island of Ameland. Images taken from shore showed a long plume of grey smoke drifting over the sea from the stricken 650-foot shi
73624799-12338705-The_Fremantle_Highway_shown_on_fire_is_a_18_500_tonne_car_carryi-m-20_1690359419538.jpg

73629669-12338705-image-a-26_1690367824176.jpg

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...Sea-Holland-electric-vehicle-caught-fire.html
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Must be a typo ? 18,500 tonne ? The Titanic was 52000 tonne & the Edmund Fitzgerald was 26000. That ship looks larger ?

Either way ... tragic for sure.
 
Tragic. It looks like they tried fighting the fire to save the cargo and ship

RIP sailor killed

These electric car fires are extremely difficult to put out. On land some ev fires took 30,000 gallons of water to put out. Wonder if the crew had training on ev fires because they say completely disconnecting the batteries is the only way to put them out. A little over a year ago another ev fire eventually sank the the ship after burning for weeks.

https://futurism.com/the-byte/luxury-car-ship-sinks
 
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/explod...hium-batteries-are-confounding-fire-rcna65739

Last July, an electric transit bus in Connecticut burst into flames while parked at a depot. A month later, an electric scooter sparked a fire inside a New York City apartment that killed a 5-year-old girl and 36-year-old woman. And last month, a fire believed to be caused by the batteries in an electric scooter engulfed a multifamily home in Brockton, Massachusetts.

Lithium-ion batteries have become a ubiquitous feature in new forms of transportation and common household products. They're also found in residential solar energy systems.


But when those batteries fail or overheat, they release flammable, toxic gasses that can spark a fast-spreading fire that is extremely difficult to extinguish.

“The source of the gasses that are creating the flames is confined within a cell battery that will not allow water in,” said Ofodike Ezekoye, a fire scientist and professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. “When firefighters are responding to these types of incidents, it takes a lot longer to be able to control the fire because it requires so much more water.”


This is becoming more frequent with all the electric vehicles bikes / scooters.
 
Jeni said:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/explod...hium-batteries-are-confounding-fire-rcna65739

Last July, an electric transit bus in Connecticut burst into flames while parked at a depot. A month later, an electric scooter sparked a fire inside a New York City apartment that killed a 5-year-old girl and 36-year-old woman. And last month, a fire believed to be caused by the batteries in an electric scooter engulfed a multifamily home in Brockton, Massachusetts.

Lithium-ion batteries have become a ubiquitous feature in new forms of transportation and common household products. They're also found in residential solar energy systems.


But when those batteries fail or overheat, they release flammable, toxic gasses that can spark a fast-spreading fire that is extremely difficult to extinguish.

“The source of the gasses that are creating the flames is confined within a cell battery that will not allow water in,” said Ofodike Ezekoye, a fire scientist and professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. “When firefighters are responding to these types of incidents, it takes a lot longer to be able to control the fire because it requires so much more water.”


This is becoming more frequent with all the electric vehicles bikes / scooters.
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lots of reports here about Electric scooters bursting into flames while on charge.. so many people are charging them inside their homes too. Privately owned electric scooters are against the law to ride in the UK.. so if a fire starts because someone is using one, then that could be deemed to be a criminal act
 
hollydolly said:
lots of reports here about Electric scooters bursting into flames while on charge.. so many people are charging them inside their homes too. Privately owned electric scooters are against the law to ride in the UK.. so if a fire starts because someone is using one, then that could be deemed to be a criminal act
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the rapid growth of electric items using these batteries will have more of these type fires.
We had many homes burnt to ground in the US from this parked in attached garage .... many if possible park their EV outside.

Just last year a car fire in a nearby parking garage spread and took out several cars I doubt basic auto insurance coverage would have covered that sort of damage.

So i can imagine insurance ( home and or auto) for this will start going up and up. Not a great selling point when so many want everyone to go EV ....
 
here's some very recent incidences ...in the last 2 weeks

A man who rushed back from holiday to find his house had burned down after his best friend decided to surprise him with an e-bike which burst into flames said he was left “absolutely shattered” after cherished family memories were destroyed in the blaze.

David Bird, 50, took his three sons away for a “nice and quiet” weekend in Wales, on June 23 this year, after asking his best friend, Dan Angus, 42, to look after his kittens while they were away.

But a day into their holiday at a caravan park in Gwynedd, David received a panicked phone call from Dan in tears, saying his house was on fire and he needed to come home immediately.

Dan explained that he had bought David an e-bike on Amazon to help with his mobility problems and had left it on charge, when suddenly he heard a “loud noise” and flames started spreading through the kitchen.

By the time David arrived home in Coton Fields, Stafford, most of his belongings had been destroyed, including “precious keepsakes” in memory of his late father and beloved daughter, who died 13 years ago in a car accident
wire-73173289-1689247764-37_634x475.jpg


#2....A mother-of-four died after jumping from the third floor of her home following a fire sparked by an e-scooter battery, an inquest has heard.

Rebecca Downes, 44, died in hospital from her injuries after jumping out of the window to escape the fire which broke out at her home in Blackpool last year.

Her family paid tribute to their mother's generosity and help for the homeless, saying 'love, care and kindness' were the most important gift in life for her.

The fire - caused by an e-scooter battery exploding as it charged by the door - ravaged the home at around 12.40 on July 6, 2022.

Her partner Mr Ramsey told Blackpool Coroner's Court that the battery ignited and sent bright sparks like a 'roman candle'.

'The battery was by the door and we couldn’t get out. The battery kept exploding and I could see bright flashing and bits of battery were hitting me. It was like a Roman candle', he said in a witness statement.

One of her daughters and partner, Patrick Ramsey, in his 50s, also sustained injuries in the blaze.

Emergency workers moved Ms Downes to other side of the road to treat her, while debris fell and thick smoke belched from home on Hill Street.

Despite the best efforts of the North West Ambulance Service and an off duty paramedic living on the same street who started CPR, Ms Downes was pronounced dead at 1.42am.

Mr Ramsey, who ran a bike repair shop and recently started trading electric bikes, said there appeared to be a problem with the battery after collecting it from a friend the weekend before the tragedy, Lancs Live reported.
73171711-12294913-image-a-30_1689245166408.jpg



A flat fire that killed a woman and two young children is believed to have started accidentally and the cause was an e-bike that was charging, the fire service has said.

Gemma Germeney, 31, died at the scene in Sackville Close, Cambridge, in the early hours of Friday, Cambridgeshire Police said.

Lilly Peden, aged eight, and four-year-old Oliver Peden were taken to hospital where they both later died, the force said.

We know e-bikes and e-scooters are popular modes of personal transport at the moment and we are urging anyone with one to be aware of the potential risks



Police said in a statement on Sunday that a man in his 30s remained in hospital in a critical condition.

The service issued advice, urging people to avoid charging the battery of an e-bike or e-scooter overnight and to not leave it charging for any longer than it needs to fully charge.


#3 ....Emergency services were called to the flats at 1.08am on Friday, with more than 30 firefighters attending.


Crews arrived to find smoke issuing from the ground and first floor of a two-storey maisonette.


The fire service said crews worked hard to extinguish the fire and prevent it from spreading to neighbouring properties.


A man in his 30s managed to escape the flat before crews arrived, but he suffered serious injuries and was taken to hospital in a critical condition.
 
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There is an interesting story here in Canada in the media yesterday. Seems someone living up north is interested in buying
an EV car but he noticed that there are no charging stations along the 700 km route from his home to the capitol of our province. He also noticed that all the charging stations are mainly along the Trans-Canada Highway which runs east to west in the southern part of the country.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/electric-vehicle-charging-stations-thompon-1.6917124
 
Telsa has been accused of over estimating range/miles off of one charge. They say an driver should get a little over 300 miles when the actual average was 250 which triggered complaints which Tesla tried to bury. One must wonder what else is Tesla and ev industry trying to bury in regards to ev batteries & fires

https://electrek.co/2023/07/27/tesla-vastly-overstates-its-vehicles-range-report-states/#:~:text=Even in summer, the 2021,electric car is never constant.

Setting aside pro/con of ev's there definitely a safety issue when transporting. These cargo ships had new evs on them which many caught fire. If new ev's just sitting on a ship are catching fire how is a used ev going to act/perform over 4 year period which is about 1/2 projected the average ev life span.

New models are supposed to have an emergency shut off lever or handle for local fire departments at the scene of an ev accident.. Perhaps the batteries on these ev's need to be completely disconnected. It's not about a running motor but if the batteries are actively trying to supply power to anything even a computer module that makes them more susceptible to prolonged fires which is why they must be completely disconnected from the circuits they energize. They require cars to be all but empty in the gas tanks maybe a low or no charge should be mandated for ev transport.
 
Another home destroyed by an exploding e-bike battery

Five people were rescued after an exploding e-bike battery caused a devastating house fire which trapped them.

Firefighters crews rescued the residents from a property in the village of Hartland, Devon after battery exploded while on charge in a communal area.

The explosion saw the residents trapped inside the property by the burning e-bike which was blocking the building's escape route. All five people inside the building were saved by firefighters from four separate crews following the explosion on July 31.

73849673-12361667-image-a-1_1690910680470.jpg

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In the first few months of 2023, the London Fire Brigade was called out to an e-bike battery explosion every two days marking a 60 increase on the same period in 2022

The explosions have caused multiple deaths, including the death of Sofia Duarte, 21, on New Years Day following a blaze in her flat on Old Kent Road, in south London.
 
hollydolly said:

,,,,,and 23 evacuated from burning 18,500-tonne container ship carrying 3,000 cars​

At least one crew member died and several others were injured overnight after a fire broke out on a huge car carrier ship off the Dutch coast, the coastguard said, with the cause believed to have been an electric vehicle catching alight.

Rescue helicopters and boats evacuated 23 crew members from the Panamanian-registered Fremantle Highway, a 18,500-tonne car-carrying vessel with almost 3,000 vehicles on-board. Officials have said there are 'many' wounded.

At least seven crew members jumped overboard and were rescued from the water, while the rest were airlifted by helicopter.

As of midday, the ship was said to be burning out of control in the North Sea and rescue vessels were working to save it from sinking close to an important habitat.

'Around midnight the Coast Guard received a report that the Fremantle Highway is on fire,' the Dutch coastguard said. 'The crew tried to put out the fire themselves, but failed. Unfortunately one person died and several others were injured.

The coastguard said that the incident happened about 17 miles (14.5 nautical miles) north of the northern island of Ameland. Images taken from shore showed a long plume of grey smoke drifting over the sea from the stricken 650-foot shi
73624799-12338705-The_Fremantle_Highway_shown_on_fire_is_a_18_500_tonne_car_carryi-m-20_1690359419538.jpg

73629669-12338705-image-a-26_1690367824176.jpg

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...Sea-Holland-electric-vehicle-caught-fire.html
Click to expand...

This is the problem with EVs.
 
hollydolly said:
lots of reports here about Electric scooters bursting into flames while on charge.. so many people are charging them inside their homes too. Privately owned electric scooters are against the law to ride in the UK.. so if a fire starts because someone is using one, then that could be deemed to be a criminal act
Click to expand...
Same with electric bikes. On of the grands had a one of those electric two wheel board things. One day her dad noticed the battery was getting VERY hot while it was being charged. He disconnected it, removed the battery for recycling, and tossed the thing. We may need special metal lined boxes to recharge the things.
 
The burned out is/has been towed to a port in the Netherlands

https://apnews.com/article/cargo-sh...erlands-port-93134c6e82af5cb8c3963ca85b9eace0

Small electric batteries for bikes and scooters have caused at least 200 fires in NYC in 2022 which inluded fatalities as did many this year

https://www.rochesterfirst.com/news...-shop-spreads-to-apartments-in-new-york-city/

They say they're too many chargers that don't shut off when charged that cause many problems. Also a physical sign of a battery in danger is over heating. If a battery is hot take it off the chargers for a while.
 

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