Early Tuesday morning, commuters heading northbound on Interstate 280 in Daly City got a rude awakening when an electric vehicle burst into flames and transformed a stretch of highway into something that looked more like a Fourth of July finale than a traffic incident. The blaze shut down northbound lanes for hours, creating significant delays during a time when Bay Area drivers can least afford them.
North County Fire Authority crews were dispatched around 5:30 a.m. after reports came in of a smoking vehicle on the roadway. What they found when they arrived was something most firefighters have rarely trained for: a high-voltage electric vehicle battery fully engulfed, shooting flames and debris in all directions. Captain Jeff Higgins described the scene as looking like a fireworks show, and not the fun kind you watch from a lawn chair.
The driver of the vehicle managed to get out safely before the situation escalated, and was reported to be doing OK. That was arguably the best news of the morning, because from that point forward, there was little firefighters could do except keep a safe distance and make sure the fire did not spread to surrounding areas. Water, the tool firefighters have relied on for centuries, was simply not going to work here…