Dozens of first responders from across Southern California gathered in San Bernardino to take part part in hands-on training with products from Tesla, including all of the company’s electric vehicles.
The goal was to strengthen emergency preparedness in the age of electrification, because of the significant differences between responding to an electric vehicle fire as opposed to a fire burning in a vehicle with a traditional internal combustion engine.
“If (the fire) is above the floorboard, in the cabin, it’s the same fire,” said Gary Ashley, a retired firefighter who now works for Tesla. “But once it’s below the floorboard, that’s a different story. Because that’s where the battery is, between the wheel wells down low.”…