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As the article says, the fire department used a new approach which was to submerge the car in a pool of water and leave it over night. I'm surprised this didn't cause more issues (I guess the battery wasn't actually damaged or on fire before hand), but it's good to know it works. Still, it needs a lot more equipment than a regular car fire.

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Actually, the Belgian fire dept has done that multiple times already. At least once in the Antwerp harbor with a Volkswagen. They where being followed by a tv crew at the time, so it’s well known to the public and we got some explanation as to the reasoning of why they’re doing it like this. (“Helden van hier” S04E08)

Episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWo8Sb0IE4U

In an electric car the battery is essentially the only part that can catch fire. If there's flames, the battery is already burning and you can't really put it out.

The only other thing would be an electric component overheating or shorting, but that would cause a small explosion rather than a continuous fire.

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