Resurfaced footage from last year shows a devastating house fire in which flames engulfed two Teslas, causing them to explode in the driveway. The incident reportedly occurred in Lynwood, Washington, where a family lost everything in the fire. Aside from the exploding EVs, the fire caused ammunition stored inside the garage to ignite, creating a chaotic and dangerous scene for the residents and first responders.

The loud noises from the fire caused the next-door neighbor, Mark Nguyen, to run outside to investigate the scene.  “I start freaking out, ran outside. I saw that their house was on fire,” he said. “That’s when I was like, ‘Yeah, I got to get everybody out the house.’”  Nguyen assisted his neighbors and helped everyone get to safety.

Nguyen described the utter devastation from the fire, “Before they boarded it up, you can see just straight to the back — everything,” the neighbor said. “The walls and ceilings are gone.”  Aside from the risk of stray bullets from the ignited ammunition hitting first responders, which scattered in all directions, firefighters had to extinguish the two smoldering Teslas parked in the driveway.  In recent years, lithium-ion batteries, the power source in EVs, have proven to be extremely difficult to put out when they catch fire.
According to a 2020 safety report, the NTSB explained “gaps in safety” regarding fires involving electric vehicles. The report discussed the “inadequacy of vehicle manufacturers’” emergency response guides for to first and second responders to mitigate the risks posed by high-voltage lithium-ion battery fires in EVs. Secondly, not all departments are adequately trained for these fires, creating a discrepancy in safety standards.
Footage of the incident was uploaded to X, with the caption, “Another Tesla fire (two, really)… caused by a house fire nearby. Looks like the HV battery did not even ignite.”  Users on X were quick to defend their beloved EVs and emphasized that the cars did not start the fire.  “RightWouldn’t surprise me to see headlines like “Tesla Involved in House Fire” without acknowledging the fact that the Teslas didn’t start the fire, and even their HV batteries didn’t ignite. Clickbait at its finest!” one person said.

Another electric vehicle enthusiast echoed a similar sentiment, “Funny how the report focusses on the dangers of runaway lithium battery fires that did not happen, but seems to take the huge amount of stored and burning ammunition for granted. Is this perhaps.. the USA?”

Regardless of whether or not the lithium-ion battery started the fire in question, it still does not rule out the danger of the batteries once they ignite.  This created a challenge for the local fire department, which had to navigate the two burning EVs outside the home.  Watch the incident from last year below:

The American Tribune previously reported on the challenges associated with electric vehicle fires, which have become a significant issue. “Electric vehicle fires are an emerging threat across the world right now,” explained Eric Kurtz from South Metro Fire and Rescue.  “Specifically when the battery pack is involved, that it can be nearly impossible to extinguish it will take 10s of 1000s of gallons to do that.”