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Luton Airport Car Park Fire


Jake Bullit
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44 minutes ago, John Lee said:

image.thumb.png.df9746f0f97a4180ed8ec59581607b10.png

 

Don't worry, the Geoff by cars Youtube channel will be there within 15 mins to offer a high quality "analysis" of the fire that "proves" EVs were 907% to blame for this incident... 🧐

 

Yepp, ding ding, my money was safe! To be fair it is a bit more balanced than his normal content. he is right in that, whether or not an EV started this, I this will be a major moment for the adoption EVs in the UK. Whislt I don't agree that the risk of fire is increased by driving an EV, the consequences of one clearly are higher, especially if there are multiple cars in close proximity such as in a car park. On that basis the public (and onward government) reaction to this will be important. Will our lords and masters carry on with the current trajectory, or are they going to see going anti-EV as more of a vote winner than loser, and decide to very publically "protect" us from incidents like this by about turning for fire safety reasons? I'm sure Rishi's minions are running the numbers right now, they'll get back to you in 3 months time...

 

Edited by MattyB
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I like the comment, reported on the BBC News website, made by the Leighton Buzzard fire crew commander:  "Lots of electric vehicles were involved"!  So were lots of petrol and diesel vehicles - the fire apparently started in a diesel vehicle.  Regardless of what fuel they use, large numbers of vehicles in close proximity will be vulnerable once fire breaks out.

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17 minutes ago, Tim Kearsley said:

I like the comment, reported on the BBC News website, made by the Leighton Buzzard fire crew commander:  "Lots of electric vehicles were involved"!  So were lots of petrol and diesel vehicles - the fire apparently started in a diesel vehicle.  Regardless of what fuel they use, large numbers of vehicles in close proximity will be vulnerable once fire breaks out.

Perhaps the point he was making was "a lot of electric vehicles were involved so that's why it took us so long to put the fire out"

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22 minutes ago, Learner said:

As has been said how or what started the fire is not the issue.

The issue is how fast it spread , especially as the airport would have there own fire crews possibly only minutes away.

 

 

How it started IS the issue. It should not have started, period. Regardless of motive power type.

 

As the Liverpool fire proved you don’t need an EV to have a dangerous multi storey car park fire.

 

Idd

 

 

 

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Not sure if the airports fire crew actually responded, the interviews seemed to all be with local firecrews, who noted it wasn't safe to enter so decided to fight it externally. Not surprising when it was assumed that there were around 1500 cars in the car park, lets say 1200 were ICE, each with 25 litres on board, that's a lot of hydrocarbon vapour which could ignite in a fireball at anytime. 

 

I've seen a still from a CCTV that seems to show an SUV (Range Rover/Land Rover/) on fire not in a parking space, so probably caught fire as it was being driven in the car park, leak from a high pressure fuel injection system onto a hot exhaust maybe.

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2 minutes ago, IDD15 said:

How it started IS the issue. It should not have started, period. Regardless of motive power type.

 

As the Liverpool fire proved you don’t need an EV to have a dangerous multi storey car park fire.

 

Idd

 

 

 

It should not of started I agree but without checking every vehicle entering a car park how are you going to stop it. 

Idd

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I think is more a case of poor build standards.

It’s a car park fire. Lots of air, shaped to channel flames.

No fire chief is going to commit the lives of crews to going into that, as long as the belief is it’s merely property burning, after the first few cars have gone up. 

Any thing with things wot can burn, it the same box as a source of heat, and an oxygen supply can go up in flames. Poor engineering, design,maintainence, damage et al.

What  might just help, the cretins who designed that building, built that building, held the budget for its construction, or wrote fire codes for it, are jointly and severally liable for not installing a sprinkler system. Brain dead obvious.

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It would need to be a mahoosive sprinkler system to cope with all the cars parked that close together.... yes, it MAY have put out the initial fire, but who knows. Certainly wouldn't have touched an EV fire I expect.

 

Anyway, it's very harsh to call people cretins or brain dead when we have no idea who decided what, when, how or why.

 

 

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Presumably, all those 'cretins' and 'brain dead' individuals created a building that complied with building regulations in force at the time.

 

Maybe it's those who created the regs that should carry any blame, although we're judging them with the benefit of hindsight.

 

I doubt those individuals should be called 'cretins' or 'brain dead' either....

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Gg, again, I  point out, I merely said a brain dead bad idea, not necessarily brain dead individuals, and I did cover the fire reg writers whos only job it is to have some foresight.  Now just as this fire is nothing to do with electric vehicles, or global heat death, covered by this thread,  I think we might leave it there.

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Does it really matter what the power source of the vehicle was!

As for the building not being firesafe, really its a car park no residence above or below, no business properties above or below. You cannot prevent all potential sources of fire or explosion nor can you proscribe all 100% extinguishing systems, or even containment.

Looks like an accident until or if its ever found otherwise.

As for Rishi's minions, draw it in Matty B.

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1 hour ago, GrumpyGnome said:

It would need to be a mahoosive sprinkler system to cope with all the cars parked that close together.... yes, it MAY have put out the initial fire, but who knows. Certainly wouldn't have touched an EV fire I expect.

 

Possibly not, but what it would have done is kept the other cars around the fire cool so they don't catch fire and fuel didn't then leak from them. There's actually more hydrocarbons stored in one of these car parks than there is inventory on a small offshore oil facility, which would have a full fire and gas detection system, sprinkler system and drain segregation to prevent a pool fire from spreading.

 

But it's a cost/risk analysis and if the regulations don't require it (because the risk is so low?) then why would the developer fit it. The personnel fire escapes would have been through fire doors and then a segregated stair well.

  

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I just heard on the TV the source of the fire has been changed to a "Lithium" battery in a vehicle. I am surprised that there has been a change, as it is politically sensitive and a Diesel is far more acceptable, to some.

 

As to there being no sprinkler system on the upper floor, I have never as yet seen a multi storey, or ground base car park with one. Again I suspect that the cost benefit, relative to frequency is not favourable. Just like our homes, the cost to benefit does not really work that well. Installation and maintenance is probably something we would want, as the cost to disposable funds, for many just do not stack up. Although some lives and property may be saved.

 

The good news is that a significant source of Lithium has been identified in the USA, also nickel, cobalt and manganese as a new development. Taking the substitution of alternative Anode materials.

 

Apparently the Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries that some are currently use being heavier, but cheaper. This indicates that building a battery factory comes with some risk, which type will become the dominant, type.

 

Again it seems that the licence vehicle weight limit is under review (for ordinary licences), as many EVs are pushing the maximum of the current limit.

Edited by Erfolg
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