FIRE ENGINEERING: Don’t Get Overly Excited About Those Chevy Volt Fires. “All vehicles have the potential of fire regardless of the type of propulsion they use. Firefighters have been dealing with gasoline and diesel fuels as a vehicle fire hazard for more than 100 years. Electric power stored in a battery is not that different than a tank of gasoline. In both cases, large amounts of energy are stored for later use in the propulsion of the vehicle. When a gas tank is compromised and leaking, an ignition source is all that is needed to ignite a fire. If a high-voltage battery is damaged in a collision, the potential of a direct short within the battery can cause heat build-up, potentially leading to a fire. However, high-voltage (HV) batteries are designed with safety systems that should prevent a thermal event from becoming a run-away battery fire. In contrast to this single Chevrolet Volt battery incident, 12-volt Lead-Acid cell batteries, found in every car and truck on the road today, are a common cause of vehicle fires, and are a caustic acid spill hazard whether or not the vehicle has been damaged.”