Contra Costa Fire District to deploy high-pressure tool to attack EV battery fires; chief reports EMS improvements

Contra Costa County Fire Protection District plans to add a high-pressure cutting-and-injection tool to its arsenal to attack electric-vehicle battery fires, Fire Chief Burchard told the board on Jan. 20, and he also reported measurable improvements in ambulance transport performance.

Burchard described a recent demonstration of a device called the Cold Cut Cobra, saying the tool "would significantly increase our ability to control EV fires." He said the European-made unit uses a very small, high-pressure jet — the nozzle opening is "about the size of the opening of a ballpoint pen" — to pierce metal or plastic and inject a small amount of water directly into a burning battery compartment. "So instead of using thousands upon thousands of gallons of water over many, many minutes, if not over an hour, we can get to the actual heart of the fire, put the fire out, quickly, and mitigate the incident, much more…