Brooklyn Center gas station staff, cop act quickly after EV’s battery catches fire next to pumps

An electric vehicle’s battery caught fire next to gasoline pumps in Brooklyn Center, creating a potential disaster that station staff and a police officer teamed up to avert.

The brief flirtation with a large blaze occurred on Dec. 30 at Winner Gas at the intersection of Humboldt and 65th avenues N., the Brooklyn Center Fire Department said.

Firefighters arrived about 10:45 p.m. and saw the burning car parked next to gas pumps while the driver was inside the store, the Fire Department said in a statement.

Police Cmdr. Richard Gabler said gas station staff cut off the gas flow to the pumps in response to seeing the smoldering vehicle close by.

Moments later, “a quick-thinking police officer used [his] squad to push the vehicle away from the fuel pumps and into the open parking lot,” the Fire Department statement read.

Shutting down the pumps “reduced the chances of a major fire,” Gabler said. “However, there would still be a chance of property and other vehicles potentially catching fire had the vehicle not been moved.”

Fire Chief Todd Berg said the driver parked close to the station’s doors and was inside making a purchase when “a ton of smoke” belched from the rental car.

According to the Brooklyn Center Fire Department:

Firefighters used the “turtle,” a device that was connected to a fire hose and sprayed water from the underside of the 2023 fully electric Kia EV6 to cool the battery.

Once the turtle was in place, firefighters covered the car with a tarplike fire blanket to control the vapors and the smoke.

“Typical car fires we extinguish in 10 minutes and use about 500 gallons of water,” the Fire Department statement continued. “Electric vehicle battery fires take more time and lots more water to cool the batteries down.”

In this case, fire personnel were on the scene for about 2½ hours until 1:20 a.m. on Dec. 31 and used about 30,000 gallons of water.