PITTSBURGH — An electric car’s lithium-ion battery may have ignited and caused a fire at a vehicle repair/service facility in Bloomfield Friday morning, Pittsburgh police said.
According to police, fire units were called to a commercial structure fire in the 800 block of Gross Street at around 6:15 a.m.
Police said given the nature of the fire, it took almost 45 minutes to extinguish. The entire operation also lasted over seven hours as firefighters followed procedures to make sure the car didn’t continue to reignite.
No one was hurt in the blaze, officials said.
The Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire’s Hazmat team was also on standby.
The exact cause of the fire is still under investigation.
This isn’t the first time Channel 11 reported on lithium-ion batteries posing challenges for firefighters. Following a blaze in Millvale earlier this year, several local fire departments warned residents about the dangers of burning lithium compounds.
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