More than 125 fire chiefs and other fire protection professionals from across the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) complex attended the DOE/Energy Facility Contractors Group Fire Protection Workshop last week, helping mark the largest attendance for the annual event in recent years.
Office of Environmental Management
June 25, 2024
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Fire protection professionals ignite an electric vehicle module as part of a demonstration. Multiple modules make up the full-size electric vehicle battery system.
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — More than 125 fire chiefs and other fire protection professionals from across the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) complex attended the DOE/Energy Facility Contractors Group Fire Protection Workshop last week, helping mark the largest attendance for the annual event in recent years.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Y-12 National Security Complex, and DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) contractor UCOR hosted the four-day meeting at Y-12’s New Hope Center.
“This year’s turnout shows there’s a growing interest and awareness in the importance of safety,” said Erik Olds, deputy manager for the Oak Ridge Office of EM. “That’s resulting in more people receiving valuable training, sharing lessons and hearing perspectives they can take back to their respective workplaces at sites across the country.”
Fire protection professionals demonstrate the use of an electric vehicle fire blanket, which is more effective than water to extinguish lithium fires.
On the first day of the workshop, participants attended a live fire demonstration involving lithium-ion batteries, simulating an electric car fire.
Professionals demonstrated fire with single-cell lithium-ion batteries, a pack of the batteries, and a system of batteries used in electric vehicles. The demonstration included the use of an electric vehicle fire blanket to help extinguish the flame, which is more effective than water.
DOE recently announced four EM sites received honors for significant contributions toward a Biden administration goal of achieving a 100% zero-emissions vehicle fleet by 2035. With an increasing number of electric cars, concerns for handling a lithium fire have grown. However, the opportunity to simulate these fires is rare.
“It’s been a topic of concern, what electric vehicle fires are going to do, and how they react different,” said Jim Arnold, Y-12 fire chief.
Fire protection professionals from U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sites across the country observe a live fire demonstration on the opening day of the annual DOE/Energy Facility Contractors Group Fire Protection Workshop.
In addition to the live fire event, workshop participants explored a wide array of topics presented by representatives across the DOE complex.
Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Elisa Baker shared information on glovebox combustible controls. Gloveboxes are used to handle radiological material in a controlled setting. Y-12’s Tom Christman presentation was titled, “A Fire Protection Engineer’s Worst Nightmare — Fire Barriers.”
“We had great cooperation from our hosting partners as well as the other fire protection professionals from across the complex,” said Rob Deschambeault, UCOR fire protection program manager. “Both the demonstration and the workshop sessions provided opportunities for discussing the challenges we all face and exploring ways to handle new challenges.”
-Contributor: Susanne Dupes
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