The City of Mountain View Fire Department recently acquired a new suppression tool that will help extinguish electric vehicle battery fires faster. The tool is known as the Battery Extinguishing System Technology (BEST). This is the first tool of its kind in Santa Clara County. MVFD has experienced prolonged on-scene times when mitigating electric vehicle battery fires. This tool is specifically designed for safer, efficient and rapid extinguishment of lithium-ion high-voltage batteries found in electric vehicles.

The BEST is deployed by firefighters in as little as two minutes after arriving on the scene. Due to its design, firefighters can perform suppression operations from a safe distance away from the burning electric vehicle. The piercing stinger water nozzle in the BEST tool deploys from the center of the device, penetrating the underside of the battery housing. Immediately after, the battery is flooded with eight gallons of water per minute. The BEST can cool and extinguish an electric vehicle battery fire with as little as 500 gallons in approximately 60 minutes. This rapid extinguishment will allow fire units to return to service much quicker than in the past via ordinary extinguishing practices. The previously known method of “surround and drown” has been known to require as much as 8,000 gallons of water applied over many hours to produce similar cooling extinguishing results on an electric vehicle battery fire.

The BEST system is carried on the Department’s Hazmat Unit. If requested via the mutual aid system, the BEST tool is available, via mutual aid, to neighboring fire departments needing assistance.

The BEST system

Firefighters connects air using a Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus bottle to the BEST.

A water hose is connected from the fire engine to the BEST.

Fire crews position the BEST under a vehicle.

A piercing stinger pops up from the device and punctures the skin of the vehicle.

Water is pumped into the vehicle at the rate of eight gallons per minute.

Media Contact
Robert Maitland, Fire Department PIO
650-903-6825 or robert.maitland@mountainview.gov