Fire safety of EVs and Li-Ion batteries in the Volunteer Fire Service: EVSolutions and Travicom trained over 200 commanders in Rogów.

On September 25–26, 2026, a Training Conference for Municipal Commanders of the Volunteer Fire Brigade of the Republic of Poland and functional members of Volunteer Fire Brigades from the Łódź Voivodeship took place in Rogów. The event, organized by the Voivodeship Department of the Volunteer Fire Brigade, gathered over 200 commanders and volunteers from across the region. A key highlight of the second day of discussions was a lecture and practical demonstration focused on firefighting tactics during incidents involving electric vehicles and Li-Ion energy storage, led by experts from EVSolutions and Travicom under the patronage of the Polish Chamber of Electromobility Development (PIRE).

Not a single "gadget," but a comprehensive rescue system

The increasing number of vehicles with alternative drives on Polish roads presents new demands for fire protection units. It is the Volunteer Fire Brigades that often arrive first at the scenes of road accidents and fires at charging infrastructure.

During the training, Mateusz Gawroniuk, President of EVSolutions, and Jacek Konieczny, President of Travicom, emphasized a fundamental principle of modern technical rescue: a single piece of equipment does not solve the problem of battery fires. The operational effectiveness and safety of rescuers depend on an integrated chain: equipment + procedure + training.

Every unit operating in high voltage (HV) areas must rely on a structured four-step procedure:

• Recognize: identification of the vehicle's power source, assessment of the surroundings, and determination of the risk of fire spread to neighboring objects.

• Isolate: immediate protection of bystanders, cutting off threatened infrastructure, and securing sewage outlets.

• Cool: implementation of firefighting tactics aimed at dissipating heat from the batteries according to the commander's decision.

• Monitor: constant thermal imaging control of the battery pack temperature, supervision of the risk of re-ignition, and safe transfer of the vehicle to the quarantine area.

DIN 91489-1 standard and Fingerhuth S-TYPE tarps in fire brigade tactics

During the workshop part, the role of tarps in limiting fire spread in rescue operations was discussed in detail. The technical tarp does not replace cooling of the cells or firefighting actions but serves as a critical thermal barrier: it cuts off the flame supply to the surroundings, drastically reduces thermal radiation, and limits the demand for firefighting water.

Participants were presented with the properties of certified tarps Fingerhuth S-TYPE, whose official distributor in Poland is EVSolutions:

• Thermal resistance: withstands temperatures up to 1200°C in continuous operation and up to 1600°C for short periods.

• Open fabric structure: allows controlled venting of smoke and pyrolytic gases without the need for manual lifting of the tarp in the danger zone.

• Continuous cooling capability: special coating allows water from sprinklers or firefighting streams to be directed directly onto the deployed tarp.

• Non-conductive material: fabric based on silica (>96% SiO2) with a vermiculite coating on both sides protects rescuers from electric shock.

• Certification and approvals: compliance with DIN SPEC 91489:2024 and official recommendation from CNBOP-PIB (RP-0026/2025).

The assumptions of the newly developed European standard DIN 91489-1, which introduces rigorous laboratory tests at temperatures up to 1000°C, dynamic mass drop tests on transport loops, and a mandatory tarp deployment test by 2 rescuers in under 60 seconds, were also presented.