A police officer’s quick thinking in Brooklyn Center, Minn., helped avert disaster when he used his cruiser to push a burning EV away from gas pumps. The fire was only put out after the use of specialized tools and over 30,000 gallons of water.

The 2023 Kia EV6’s battery caught fire while parked next to gas pumps at Winner Gas Station, and the driver was inside the store. Upon noticing the blaze, the gas station staff shut off the fuel flow to the pumps.

Firefighters then quickly arrived on the scene. According to the Brooklyn Center Fire Department, when they arrived, they “observed lots of smoke coming from the battery area of the car.”

“A quick-thinking BC police officer used their squad to push the vehicle away from the fuel pumps and into the open parking lot,” the fire department wrote.

EV fires are much harder to extinguish than regular gas-powered car fires

The fire department stated that firefighters extinguish “typical car fires” in 10 minutes and use about 500 gallons of water. However, electric vehicle battery fires “take more time and lots more water to cool the batteries down.”

The firefighters used what is referred to as the “turtle” to extinguish the EV fire. They described it as “a pipe and water discharge device that hooks up to our fire hose and sprays water from the underside of the car to cool the battery.”

After using the “turtle,” the firefighters used a large fire blanket to cover the car. This helped contain the smoke and vapors caused by the electric vehicle fire. There were no reports of injuries from the incident.

“We were on scene for 2-1/2 hours and used approximately 30,000 gallons of water,” they explained.