PLANO, Texas — A Tesla caught fire at a home in Plano early Friday morning.
The incident happened shortly after midnight in the 2700 block of Sacred Path Road, near Preston Road and Tulane Drive. Officials said the fire started in the garage.
The car's owner told WFAA that they heard a hissing sound coming from the battery, which was installed Thursday. When the owner checked the car, flames were shooting from the battery and they called 9-1-1.
Firefighters responded and were able to put a tarp over the vehicle and pull it into the street, where they worked on fully extinguishing the fire.
"The guys were quick thinking. Once they put the tarp on the car and were able to contain the fire underneath that tarp, they quickly hook some tow chains underneath and drag it using one our battalions," said Plano Fire Lt. Daniel Daly.
Cellphone video captured part of the intense, hours long battle.
“They got pretty aggressive with the hose lines. They got some spreaders underneath the vehicle and were able to elevate one side of the vehicle kind of jack it up on one side, like to change in the tire,” Daly said. “By this time they were fighting a fire and putting the water directly on the battery underneath the car.”
Those lithium-ion batteries used to power Teslas and other electric vehicles have been in the headlines this year after several reports of EV’s spontaneously catching on fire. There’s not much data on how frequently it happens.
But Daly said his department has done trainings on how to properly respond.
“The firefighting is very different. It's really just cooling and containing,” he said.
The car's owner told WFAA that they had just gotten a new battery from the Plano Tesla service center just hours before the fire. WFAA’s Janel Forte went to the service center to ask about what happened, managers there declined to comment.
Plano Fire says they’re working to learn what went wrong.
“No cause right now at all. Still very much early and under investigation. The only thing that that we know is that it was, you know, electric vehicle and we had to get on that battery,” said Daly.
Fortunately, there were no serious injuries, although the car owner did have to get checked out for smoke inhalation. Fire officials said there was some smoke damage to the home, but no fire damage, and a second car in the garage was also not damaged. Friday contractors were at the home cleaning up the mess.
