Emigrant Gap, CA — Eastbound Interstate 80 is reopening nearly 16 hours after a Tesla Semi caught fire east of Nyack early Monday, releasing toxic fumes, Cal Fire said.
Drivers were being kept off the interstate for at least half a mile in both directions because the Tesla electric vehicle’s battery was on fire, said Jason Lyman, a California Highway Patrol spokesperson. The toxic fumes are an inhalation danger, he said.
(The semi fire was only the cab of the truck, it was pulling no trailer, and the truck was well off the road in some trees burning so you know the fire had to be very intense to shut an interstate highway down for 16 hours.)
Cal Fire crews and a hazardous materials team contracted by Tesla were on the scene.
We know lithium batteries ‘feed’ on each other when they catch fire, but 16 hours to get down to 1000 degrees… wow… And untold thousands of gallons of water, plus tying up x number of fire engines.
And it happened on I-80, so there were options to get around it, but what if…
This happens in a city or in heavy traffic? Where to people go? Get out and run? If it’s in a city, what happens to the buildings adjacent to the wreck? 2000+ degrees IS going to set off other fires just from the reflected heat.
Or on a bridge, or something like the Hoover Dam? Or in the winter? I-80 gets their share of that every winter. Or in Colorado, Wyoming, the Dakotas, etc? Or Texas in the summer with fire danger?
And if this is in the EU, where the roads are smaller and packed? Same questions…
I don’t have any good answers folks.
Does anybody???

(The only thing left of the actual truck was the frame and wheels.)
Here is the link to an article but there isn’t any decent pictures of the fire.
https://www.kcra.com/article/placer-county-big-rig-fire-crash-interstate-80-emigrant-gap/61912862

https://oldnfo.org/2024/08/21/well-6/