Fire - Toyota Highlander 2008 Emergency Response Manual

Emergency Response (Continued)

Fire

Approach and extinguish a fire using proper vehicle fire fighting practices as
recommended by NFPA, IFSTA, or the National Fire Academy (USA).

Extinguishing Agent
Water has been proven to be a suitable extinguishing agent.

Initial Fire Attack
Perform a fast, aggressive fire attack.
Divert the runoff from entering watershed areas.
Attack teams may not be able to identify a Highlander hybrid until the
fire has been knocked down and overhaul operations have
commenced.

Fire in the HV Battery Pack
Should a fire occur in the NiMH HV battery pack, attack crews
should utilize a water stream or fog pattern to extinguish any fire
within the vehicle except for the HV battery pack.
WARNING:

The NiMH battery electrolyte is a caustic alkaline (pH 13.5) that is
damaging to human tissues. To avoid injury by coming in contact
with the electrolyte, wear proper personal protective equipment.

The battery modules are contained within a metal case and
accessibility is limited.

To avoid serious injury or death from severe burns or electric
shock, never breach or remove the high voltage battery pack cover
under any circumstance including fire.
When allowed to burn themselves out, the Highlander hybrid NiMH
battery modules burn rapidly and can quickly be reduced to ashes
except for the metal.
Offensive Fire Attack
Normally, flooding an NiMH HV battery pack with copious amounts
of water at a safe distance will effectively control the HV battery pack
fire by cooling the adjacent NiMH battery modules to a point below
their ignition temperature. The remaining modules on fire, if not
extinguished by the water, will burn themselves out.
However, flooding the Highlander HV battery pack is not
recommended due to the battery case design and location preventing
the responder from properly applying water through the available vent
openings safely. Therefore, it is recommended that the incident
commander allow the Highlander HV battery pack to burn itself out.
Defensive Fire Attack
If the decision has been made to fight the fire using a defensive
attack, the fire attack crew should pull back a safe distance and allow
the NiMH battery modules to burn themselves out. During this
defensive operation, fire crews may utilize a water stream or fog
pattern to protect exposures or to control the path of smoke.
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