The report, titled “Full-Scale Electric Vehicle Fire Experiments and Recommendations for Fire Incident Response,” was released this week and is built on eighteen full-scale vehicle burns conducted under controlled conditions. The research team ran nine free burns, meaning fires allowed to progress without any suppression applied, to establish a baseline comparison between EVs and internal combustion vehicles. Fire Behavior Looks More Alike Than DifferentOne of the report’s central findings works against a common assumption: that EV fires are a fundamentally different, more volatile hazard than fires in gas-powered vehicles. According to the free-burn data, EV and internal combustion vehicle fires tracked closely in fire growth rate, peak fire size, and overall fire duration. Barowy said the research is meant to help first responders understand how batteries change the fire environment, and he noted that the results show existing tools and tactics remain effective against EV fires.