Portland Fire unveils new water lance that can ‘pierce through’ metal to combat EV fires

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Portland Fire and Rescue is unveiling its new “water lance” tool in an effort to minimize the toxicity released in the water and the air from lithium-ion battery fires from electric vehicles.

The new Cold Cut Cobra Water Lance is so powerful, it can be used to penetrate metal and can minimize the amount of water needed to combat EV fires, officials said.

The proliferation of sometimes explosive EV battery fires is a fairly new phenomenon, with fire departments across the nation struggling to respond to them. As a result, a variety of approaches have been taken among the different fire departments around the country, PF&R officials said.

The issue stems from the fact that lithium-ion battery fires can dispense toxins in the water runoff or in the air via aerosolized particulates, leading to respiratory health dangers for those nearby. Traditional firefighting methods would either require using a lot of water to put the battery fire out, creating toxic runoff, or waiting until the fire consumes the battery and use less water, but allowing a plume of toxic smoke to occur instead. Both methods risk environmental and health dangers.

However, the new Cold Cut Cobra Water Lance tool can be used to penetrate into the battery compartment to dispense the water. The tool uses less water than traditional methods, and the water that is used is contained, minimizing toxic water runoff.

“The Cold Cut Cobra has a self-contained water tank with a motor used to power a high-pressure water pump, with the additional ability to mix in a nontoxic, environmentally safe iron ore aggregate used to penetrate into solid materials such as metal and concrete, using a hole of just 1/8” in diameter,” PF&R said in a press release. “The tool is designed to pierce through the metal protective battery compartment cover using the aggregate-water mix. Once the hole is made, the iron ore is removed from the stream and the water stream floods the compartment, quickly extinguishing the fire.”

The water lance method also minimizes the risk of the battery fire rekindling, a common problem with this type of emergency, officials said.

The Cold Cut Cobra Water Lance will be housed in the North Portland Heavy Squad 24 in the Overlook Neighborhood, providing quick access via I-5 to problematic areas of Portland streets where EV battery fires are likely to occur, PF&R said.

The funding for the tool was made possible by the City of Portland’s Bureau of Fleet and Facilities and the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund.

Back in September, lithium-ion batteries that experienced “thermal runaway” were the root cause of a fire in two structures that displaced 11 people in Portland. Portland Fire said they had responded to a number of other fires caused by the lithium battery in e-scooters in the months leading up to the blaze.