Posted on 04/18/2021 10:32:23 AM PDT by DFG
Two men died after a Tesla 'on autopilot with no one driving' crashed into a tree in Houston before starting a huge fire that took 32,000 gallons of water to extinguish.
The fully-electric 2019 Tesla Model S slammed into the tree in Carlton Woods at around 11.25pm on Saturday night before bursting into flames with the passengers still inside.
Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman said an investigation had found that 'no one was driving' when the accident happened, with one man sitting in the passenger seat at the front and the second sitting in the back.
Officials told KPRC 2 that the $80,000 vehicle was moving at high speed when it failed to negotiate a cul-de-sac turn, ran off the road and crashed.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
My first thoughts afrer reading this was past 11 pm was it was going to be a couple getting frisky in the back seat while Mr. Car escorted them home from some bar.
We carry 40 gallons of foam that is injected into only a few of the discharges at a user settable rate recommended to be 0.3% by volume.
The purpose of foam is to reduce surface tension on the water in order to get it deeper into the the seat of the fire (ex. putting out burning hay) and to lay a blanket of foam over the fire to deprive it of oxygen and whatever cooling effect that you can get.
In a thermal runaway battery fire, I don’t see where foam is necessarily going to be a benefit.
We have a large handheld ABC dry chemical and a CO2 extinguisher.
Probably the only thing that might actually do anything is a Class D extinguisher and that would come from another department or perhaps the airport.
Fact is, if you are trapped in a burning EV, you best self extricate or make peace with your maker because the tools are not readily available enough for me to contain the fire enough to get you out alive. So it is living on the bleeding edge of technology.
So if your Tesla runs a stop sign and T-Bones another vehicle, who is at fault?
If I’m wrong, then it will be a delayed reaction...we’ve been married nearly 35 years... lol.
C’mon! Spring Texas is like 3 miles from George Bush (Gak) International airport. A 4 hour fire and no foam?
Was alcohol involved?
SO they were coming from a cul-de-sac in the neighborhood. They were actually likely leaving home. Here in Houston, leaving a cup-de-sac means you are leaving home. Doesn’t discount that they could be drunk leaving home however. Your point still stands.
Had they used halon instead of water, they would still be alive.
No this was not in a big city. This happened about 15 minutes from my house in a neighborhood close to The Woodlands. Considered a suburb and this particular neighborhood is really in between The Woodlands and the Cypress/Tomball area. While there are some Teslas in the area we really don’t have many. There are likely no trucks in the greater Conroe/Woodlands/Spring/Cypress?/Tomball ( north Houston suburbs) with a foam truck.
What part of, it was engulfed in flames and neighbors reported an explosion leads you to believe that they can just jump in and turn the flashers on to kill the battery?
Where this home was located is actually about 40 minutes from the airport. Spring is a big area.
I just tried searching for the cause of the Bush fire. All the sources kept saying human caused but would not go into details. I don’t think that’s an accident To say that a supposedly environmentally friendly car was involved in causing such a huge fire would never be allowed by the American media. It shouldn’t amaze me but it still does how much we’ve become like the old Soviet Union. Pravda would be proud.
Home?
Instead of wasting all this water, firefighters should have called up the army to fire an anti-tank weapon at this stupid Tesla. Which I will never buy. Perhaps the local police dept had something similar for extreme situations.
I assume they were using foam with the water, just no way to get the foam in the battery compartments
Halon was phased out starting 01/94. The last time I got quotes on any it was $20/lb.
Halon itself is nasty to breathe and under fire conditions makes a really nasty atmosphere.
Halon protected rooms like server rooms have a pre-alarm that gives a person 30 seconds or so to escape before the Halon releases.
“An acquaintance with a Tesla was going to show me it’s auto pilot feature by calling it over from across the parking lot.”
Takes longer than walking to the car. Just get in the car and drive, toy-boys.
Which reminds me. I’ve seen plenty of Teslas but they are never being driven by women.
We had early ‘70’s trucks that had foam tanks on them. I don’t think a truck can even be NFPA approved as a fire apparatus without a foam system.
“I laughed when I saw that we’d have a private flying car by 2024.”
I agree but a related meme is still one of my all-time favorites:
1950: “I bet by 2020 we’ll have flying cars!!!”
2020: “This syrup is racist.”
Yes. I was a proponent of the Skycar, where you lock in the GPS and can basically sip coffee and read the newspaper while commuting to work.
But then there are drawbacks.
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