IN the final days of 2023, firefighters from Newton Abbot were scrambled to reports of a vehicle fire at the telephone exchange on Osbourne Street.

Upon arriving at the scene, the crew were faced with a fire from a work van, with smoke and flames issuing from the rear of the vehicle.

'In order to ensure Breathing Apparatus (BA) wearers could safely operate in and around the van, the Incident Commander (IC) "made pumps 2" for the purposes of extra personnel and, more importantly, a dedicated person who monitors air consumption from the outside' a spokesman for Newton Abbot Fire Station said.

This position is known as a BAECO (Breathing Apparatus Entry Control Officer) - this second appliance was also mobilised from Newton Abbot Fire Station.

The IC made the decision to commit two firefighters wearing BA to fight the fire; they utilised a hose reel jet to knock back the flames.

Information was obtained from the on-site staff that the van was being fitted with a new lithium-ion battery, which spontaneously went into thermal runaway.

'Thermal runaway, as a basic principle, is when a cell within the battery heats up, this can be caused either spontaneously, from shock, or from some kind of external penetration' the spokesman said.

'This then in turn, causes each cell in sequence within the battery to heat up to the point of ignition' the spokesman added.

Given the fire was caused by thermal runaway, crews also utilised electrical gloves and bolt croppers to remove the battery.

'Due to the volatile nature of lithium-ion batteries (when they are compromised) and their ability to spontaneously combust up to a week after first ignition, crews utilised a nearby empty bin which we will filled with water' the spokesman said.

'This was so that the battery could be fully submerged and prevent further re-ignition' the spokesman added.

Once the battery was deemed safe and the fire was out, crews continued to make the scene and vehicle safe by cutting away burnt materials from within the van.

The battery was left submerged on scene and will be collected and disposed of by a specialist waste team in the near future.