Bloomfield Twp. house fire that involved electric vehicle under investigation
The Oakland County Sheriff is investigating the cause of a blaze Sunday that engulfed a garage that held four vehicles, including a newer model electric vehicle, at a Bloomfield Township home.
The fire department was called to 1288 W. Long Lake Road at about 4:15 Sunday afternoon for a garage fire, said Matt DeRousse, the assistant fire chief at Bloomfield Township Fire Department. The fire department called for assistance from Farmington Hills, Birmingham, Waterford and West Bloomfield fire departments because the garage was attached to the 20,000-square-foot house so if it spread, the damage would be immense, DeRousse said.
No one was injured in the blaze and Bloomfield Township Fire is not identifying the brand of EV involved yet because, while the car "was involved" in the fire, authorities are still investigating whether it was the cause of it or not, DeRousse told the Free Press. He said the EV was not being charged at the time.
Some EVs have had issues with batteries causing fires while parked, such as the Chevrolet Bolt and Bolt EUV. GM recalled all 141,000 of them globally in 2021 to fix the batteries after about a dozen fires. Then, also in 2021, a Lordstown Motors Endurance pickup prototype was being tested by engineers in Farmington Hills when it burst into flames. Earlier this month, Ford restarted its production of the all-electric F-150 pickup after a battery fire in a Dearborn parking lot. The company worked for weeks with its supplier to identify the cause and determine next steps.
But gasoline-powered vehicles can catch fire, too, such as last summer when a 2021 Ford Expedition erupted in a blaze.
Most experts say EVs are safe to drive and charge. But if they are part of a fire and because so many automakers are increasingly bringing EVs to market, DeRousse said the issue of safety is a "big concern" for emergency responders, therefore, "this investigation will be very thorough."
On Wednesday, the Free Press filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the initial incident reports with Bloomfield Township Fire Department and the Oakland County Sheriff's Department. The sheriff's office denied the request saying it is an open investigation. The fire department said it will process the request as soon as the incident report is complete.
The homeowner did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
DeRousse said it took firefighters about an hour to extinguish the fire, which they managed to contain to the garage. Even if the EV is not the cause, DeRousse said any time a fire involves an EV, it is challenging for firefighters.
"EVs require a lot more water typically than a normal fire due to the heat and amount of energy with those battery packs and, as they burn up, it continues to add to the fire so once you get the fire out, the hot battery cells can overheat and ignite again on their own," DeRousse said. “So when you have an accident with an electronic vehicle or anything that comprises those battery packs, you can’t keep it parked in a structure because they can ignite.”
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Phoebe Wall Howard contributed to this article.
Contact Jamie L. LaReau at jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Bloomfield Twp. house fire that involved an EV is under investigation
