Retired Everett firefighter invents tool to help fight electric vehicle fires
PEABODY - Electric vehicles (EV) can be a major risk if they catch on fire. The blaze can last 24 hours if firefighters can't get to the battery. A retired Everett fire captain has a new invention to battle the flames. He calls it the Gerry Pipe.
"We got to cool down the battery underneath," said inventor and former Everett Fire Captain Gerry O'Hearn, "The key is no one gets hurt."
The trouble with EV fires is their lithium batteries can burn for hours. The battery is typically located on the bottom of the car and can span the length of the vehicle. Since EV cars tend to be extra low to the ground, the batteries can be hard to get at for firefighters. O'Hearn said sometimes fire crews try to tip the car on its side with their hands.
"In the future, they are hoping to have some sort of extinguisher-suppressant which they can have built right into these automobiles," he said.
The Gerry Pipe is a steel pipe on wheels with a fire hose nozzle at the end. It allows officers to put out the fire underneath and at a safe distance. It was designed by O'Hearn and created by Richard Jalbert and his team at Jalbert Plumbing and Heating.
"We decided we wanted to go with an inch-and-a-quarter steel pipe to minimize weight," explained Jalbert, "We needed something that we could push underneath at a distance to keep the firefighters away from the vehicle. It throws an enormous amount of water under the vehicle in all directions."
The fire teams have to get the vehicle to 140 degrees for 45 minutes before they can move the vehicle away. Even with the Gerry Pipe, O'Hearn said, there is no guarantee that the lithium battery doesn't reignite.
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