“CREWS KNOCKED THE FIRE DOWN BUT IT KEPT RE-IGNITING/OFF-GASSING IN THE BATTERY COMPARTMENT”: Tesla Model S catches fire three weeks after getting sent to junkyard. “In what sounds like the automotive equivalent of The Walking Dead, a Tesla Model S caught fire three weeks after it was involved in an accident and sent to a junkyard. Firefighters had a difficult time putting out the blaze, and they ended up having to submerge the battery.”