A fault with an electric vehicle is believed to be the undelrying cause of a huge blaze which started in Essex last night.
Essex County Fire and Rescue Service attended a fire at a salvage yard yesterday evening on Brickfields Way in Rochford.
The blaze is believed to have started at around 8.47pm with reports that eight cars were alight and are assumed to have been destroyed.
Firefighters were able to contain the fire quickly after attending and prevented it from spreading further.
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An investigation by Essex Fire Service reported that an electric vehicle fault caused the fire
ESSEX FIRE
An investigation by the fire service has been carried out and the cause of the fire was a fault in an electric vehicle.
A statement from Essex County Fire and Rescue Service noted that crews from Rochford, Southend and Leigh attended.
Temporary Watch Manager Steven Gabriel said: “Firefighters have done an excellent job to contain the fire to stop it from spreading to surrounding areas.
“Unfortunately, although the vehicles have been destroyed, this could very easily have become an even more significant incident without such a professional response from our crews.”
An image from the fire service pictured an electric vehicle on fire in the background with cars believed to be a Toyota, Land Rover and Fiat in the foreground.
According to the Southend Echo, this is the second fire on Purdeys Industrial Estate in a matter of months.
In August 2023, more than 200 vehicles at a scrap yard were engulfed in flames, causing eleven fire crews and 60 firefighters to be called out.
The fire at the scrap yard, which has around 2,000 cars on the site, caused the fire service to urge local residents to shut their windows because of the smoke.
According to data from the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, there have been just 23 EV fire incidents, representing just 0.004 per cent of Sweden’s total fleet of 611,000 electric cars.
In comparison, there have been 34,000 fires from the 4.4 million petrol and diesel cars – or 0.08 per cent – making electric cars 20 times less likely to result in fires.
The data was reignited after a horror blaze destroyed around 1,500 cars at a Luton Airport car park, which is believed to have started from a diesel Range Rover.
In the aftermath of the fire, the parking operator APCOA reported that it had received almost 16,500 customer queries from worried drivers that they might be affected.
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The aftermath of the car park fire at Luton Airport
PA
A number of insurance providers clarified that any affected vehicles would waive excesses. Any no claims discounts would also be unaffected.
