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Have you been harbouring the misimpression that the worst thing that could happen to you while commuting to work is getting stuck in rush hour traffic? As it turns out, being trapped in your car for the duration is even worse because you could be inadvertently breathing in <keyword id="21593992" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="cancer-causing-air" source="keywords">cancer-causing air</keyword>. This is a real bummer, considering rolling down your windows would mean inhaling polluted air most of the time.<br /><br />New research has found <keyword id="21589825" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="flame-retardants" source="keywords">flame retardants</keyword> in nearly all (99%) of the cars tested in the US. These chemicals, including tris (1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TDCIPP) and tris (2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP).<br /><br />Why is this a problem? These chemicals are linked to cancer, <keyword id="21593994" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="neurological-problems" source="keywords">neurological problems</keyword>, and even lower IQ in children. In fact, even firefighters seem to have been raising concerns about flame retardants potentially contributing to their high cancer rates. <br /><br />And companies have been adding these potentially carcinogenic flame retardants to car seats and other materials, off-gassing harmful chemicals into the air you breathe.<br /><br />“Considering the average driver spends about an hour in the car every day, this is a significant <keyword id="21593993" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="public-health-issue" source="keywords">public health issue</keyword>. It’s particularly concerning for drivers with longer commutes as well as child passengers, who breathe more air pound for pound than adults,” explains lead author Rebecca Hoehn, a scientist at <keyword id="20075490" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Duke-University" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Duke University" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Duke University">Duke University</keyword>.<br /><br />Here's the kicker: exposure seems to be worse during hot weather. Car interiors can reach scorching temperatures, causing these flame retardants to break down and pollute the air you breathe. <br /><br />The good news? There's a safer way. California, US, for example, updated its flammability standards for furniture and baby products to eliminate flame retardants without compromising safety. This update actually led to a decrease in flame retardant levels in homes, proving there's a better path forward.<br /><br />While opening windows and parking in the shade can help, the real solution lies in urging <keyword id="19996197" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="car-manufacturers" source="keywords">car manufacturers</keyword> and safety regulators to update outdated standards. We shouldn't have to choose between fire safety and our health. “Commuting to work shouldn’t come with a cancer risk, and children shouldn’t breathe in chemicals that can harm their brains on their way to school,” says the study’s co-author Lydia Jahl, a senior scientist at the Green Science Policy Institute.<br /><br />The findings of this study have been detailed in <em>Environmental Science &amp; Technology</em> and can be accessed <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.3c10440">here</a>.<br />

Toxic chemicals in your car seats could be increasing risks of cancer, study warns

<ul class="summary-list"><li>In 2015, a woman named Kisha Loomis suffered burns when a hoverboard ordered on <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> caught on fire in her house. </li><li>Loomis sued Amazon in California, and saw her case against the tech giant receive a summary judgment.</li><li>Amazon successfully argued that the hoverboard merchant "fell outside the chain of distribution," and that it was therefore not responsible for the accident.  </li><li>But now, an appellate court has cleared the lawsuit to go before a judge and jury.</li><li>If Loomis wins her case, it could have a significant impact on Amazon's third-party sales business.</li></ul><p>Amazon is facing a legal challenge in California that could upend its lucrative third-party sales business. </p><p>The incident behind the lawsuit began when a woman named Kisha Loomis purchased a hoverboard on Amazon in 2015. The product came from TurnUpUp, an alias of a company called SMILETO, which is believed to be based in China. </p><p>On New Year's Eve, the hoverboard caught on fire while charging. Loomis escaped the flames in her bedroom, but not without sustaining burns to her hands and feet. She went on to sue Forrinx Technology - the outfit that delivered the hoverboard - as well as the seller and Amazon in 2016.</p><p>In the initial trial, Amazon asked for summary judgment, arguing that it was outside "the chain of distribution for product liability purposes," which would render it not liable. The court ruled in Amazon's favor, and Loomis appealed the decision.</p><p>Now, the appellate court has ruled in the plaintiff's favor, meaning that Amazon is left open to a legal ruling that could potentially alter the way it does business. Third-party sales accounted for <a href="https://ir.aboutamazon.com/news-release/news-release-details/2021/Amazon.com-Announces-Fourth-Quarter-Results/default.aspx?tag=bisafetynet2-20">$386 billion</a> - or 54% of the company's total net sales - in 2020. Research firm <a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=4tNED-2FM8iDZJQyQ53jATUcKGfYeCoCY2xaVxSX3Yobo-3DmymP_bgCe8ihr4o6NyOkoW5UJVrb51Dl1FPa7Eg1lSjvSo92Y5kR9Ms5mZX7fnV8km2cHuxCx1PRIfobH-2FrwX8muOHhkd4-2BMjLYsado3-2F-2Bx3Gb-2FzjKsWfV48PLhf3lj3gvuOFpCY9ovQOQCQoUHF-2B0MRscL1Lo7hhVB4vuyldtJmYrF-2BXKm1uGaLw-2F2BUzATyS2oc23pmKBySzTyb0myhlmLLVLaUXcdk3CzFBRDJ5YMn09xk8M2-2Fty2r-2BRuNnYfGzEof2EYNS3HaSzI4gAyxwDqSSci6eCVc-2BMHCEWGJiQ1nCo3asYp-2BDS6ULmW5NhCLAMfiIv-2BECaiGYdJEYuGSUYWQIR-2BGZ-2F6Bhq663S70SVw8BI8-3D">Finbold </a>also found that Amazon is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-pulls-in-thousands-new-independent-sellers-a-day-2021-3">adding </a>3,700 new sellers daily in 2021.</p><p>A ruling in favor of Loomis could leave Amazon liable for products sold by all of its third-party merchants, even those that it does not directly warehouse or delivery with its Fulfillment by Amazon business. </p><p>"California's got some pretty consumer-friendly <keyword id="6355470" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="law">law</keyword> when it comes to product liability," attorney and former Texas appellate justice John Browning, who has litigated product liability cases, told Insider. "It means that Amazon is not going to be able to walk away from this quite so quickly."</p><p>Amazon declined to comment on the lawsuit itself, but it did send Insider a statement on product safety.</p><p style="font-weight: 400;">"Amazon invests heavily in the safety and authenticity of all products offered in our store including proactively vetting sellers and products before being listed, and continuously monitoring our store for signals of a concern," a spokesperson said in a statement sent to Insider. "Amazon supports legislation that provides protections for consumers wherever they shop online to ensure all stores are held to the same standards."</p><p>Appellate judges took the impact on public safety into consideration in their ruling. In a concurring opinion, Judge John Wiley wrote: "This case is easy. Amazon is well situated to take cost-effective measures to minimize the social costs of accidents. Strict liability will prompt this beneficial conduct."</p><p>"Once Amazon is convinced it will be holding the bag on these accidents, this motivation will prompt it to engineer effective ways to minimize these accident costs," Wiley wrote. "Tort law will inspire Amazon to align its ingenuity with efficient customer safety. Customers will benefit."</p><p>Browning said he wouldn't be surprised if the case ends up settled without going to trial. Still, he said the ruling seems to indicate that "the tide may be turning" against Amazon on a legal basis. The tech giant has been able to argue out of many similar lawsuits. </p><p>"It's another crack in this facade of invincibility that Amazon has built up," he said. </p>

A California court case over a flammable hoverboard could force Amazon to change its entire third-party sales business model

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against Zinus Inc. says a mattress from the company harmed her children.</li><li>Vanessa Gutierrez and others allege fiberglass in the mattress escaped and caused health problems.</li></ul><p>A woman in Sacramento, California is leading a proposed class-action lawsuit against Zinus Inc., the maker of the popular "Green Tea Mattress" that she alleges caused her family of five serious health issues and resulted in $20,000 in damages. </p><p>The proposed class-action suit represents 2,000 individuals from across the US who say they were harmed by the Zinus mattress. It is awaiting class certification approval and is one of <a href="https://www.elglaw.com/mattresses/zinus/">several</a> suits being brought against the company. </p><p>Vanessa Gutierrez alleged the fiberglass fibers in her Zinus mattress escaped and caused medical issues "so severe" she had to "take her infant daughter to multiple medical appointments to obtain treatment," a July filing says. </p><p>She <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-08-25/zinus-mattress-in-a-box-lawsuit">told</a> the Los Angeles Times that she noticed her five-month-old had "sores and rashes," while her nine-year-old "experienced asthma flare-ups," according to a feature published by the outlet last week.</p><p>The lawsuit also alleges the glass fibers contaminated the family's two-bedroom apartment, forcing them to temporarily relocate and discard clothing, bedding, and furniture worth thousands of dollars. </p><p>According to the <a href="https://doh.wa.gov/community-and-environment/air-quality/indoor-air/fiberglass#:~:text=Direct%20contact%20with%20fiberglass%20or,itching%2C%20coughing%2C%20or%20wheezing.">Washington State Department of Health</a>, "direct contact with fiberglass or breathing airborne dust containing fiberglass may irritate the skin, eyes, nose, and throat," and continuous exposure can aggravate existing asthma or bronchitis-like conditions.</p><p>The "bed-in-a-box" mattress cited in the suit is currently listed as the #1 bestseller in Amazon's mattress category, with an average review of four-and-a-half stars. </p><p>Many budget mattresses contain fiberglass, a mix of plastic and glass, as a fire retardant because it's a cheaper way to ensure the bed meets <a href="https://www.cpsc.gov/Business--Manufacturing/Business-Education/Business-Guidance/Mattresses">federal flammability tests</a> required by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. Previously, most mattresses used benzene and antimony as fire retardants, two chemicals that are now deemed unsafe for consumer products.</p><p>In a statement shared with Insider, a Zinus spokesperson said the chemical-free fire safety material used to make its mattresses fire-resistant is standard and the CPSC doesn't consider it hazardous. The company also said that its mattress labels tell consumers the mattress's contents, and says not to open or remove the mattress's cover, which acts as a protective barrier.</p><p>"Zinus mattresses currently being sold include locked zippers without pull tabs and an additional sewn-in label that warns against removing the outer cover," the Zinus spokesperson said. "For all these reasons, we look forward to defending the composition and construction of our products in court, should that be necessary, and are confident we will prevail."</p><p>In an email to Insider, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission said mattresses that have a layer of fiberglass "have a protective outer cover which acts as a barrier to separate the fiberglass layer from consumers and to maintain the effectiveness of its fire-resistant properties."</p><p>The commission said if the mattress cover is left intact, "exposure to fiberglass particles is expected to be minimal."</p><p>Gutierrez said she never removed the mattress cover, per the July filing. </p><p>Zinus did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.</p>

California woman alleges Amazon's #1 best-selling mattress contains fiberglass that caused 'severe' health issues to her five-month-old and nine-year-old daughters

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-wildfire-crisis-getting-worse-climate-change-2019-10">Pacific Gas &amp; Electric Co. (PG&amp;E)</a> power lines have caused over 1,500 California <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/wildfires">wildfires</a> in the last six years, including the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/camp-fire">deadliest blaze</a> in the state's history.&#xa0;</li><li>Many critics, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, accuse PG&amp;E of prioritizing profits over safety measures for decades.</li><li>The company has filed for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pge-biggest-climate-change-bankruptcy-as-utility-files-for-chapter-11-2019-1">bankruptcy</a> and started cutting power to millions of Californians to keep power lines from sparking in dry, windy conditions.</li><li>Many Californians think they should never have been faced with the choice between days-long blackouts and deadly fires.</li><li>Here's what experts say PG&amp;E should have done years ago, from better tree trimming to power-line upgrades.</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul><p>Over the last week, the Kincade Fire has torn through nearly 78,000 acres of California wine country, forcing about 180,000 people to evacuate. Meanwhile, millions have gone without electricity, often for days at a time.</p><p>Hospitals scrambled to find refrigerators for medications, people bundled their children to keep them warm during cool nights, and seniors were <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/disabled-california-seniors-left-behind-power-outage-n1074706">left alone</a> in the dark.</p><p>The state's largest utility, Pacific Gas &amp; Electric Co. (PG&amp;E), is responsible for these blackouts, and possibly for the fire itself.</p><p>Around the time the Kincade Fire ignited, a jumper cable broke on a PG&amp;E transmission tower in the area, the company <a href="https://www.pgecurrents.com/2019/10/24/electric-incident-report-filed-with-cpuc-in-response-to-kincade-fire/">told state regulators</a> on October 24. By the time PG&amp;E personnel arrived, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) had taped the area off and identified the broken cable.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>A problem with PG&amp;E equipment <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/15/business/pge-fire.html">was also the cause of the Camp Fire</a>, a California state agency said, which killed at least 85 people last year and razed more than 18,800 structures. It was the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history.</p><p>In fact, according to the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/pg-e-sparked-at-least-1-500-california-fires-now-the-utility-faces-collapse-11547410768">The Wall Street Journal</a>, the utility company's equipment led to more than 1,500 fires between June 2014 and December 2017.</p><p>So this fall, as low humidity and strong winds created fire-hazard conditions in northern California, PG&amp;E cut power to nearly 1.1 million customers in October to minimize risks that sparking wires could start more blazes.</p><p>PG&amp;E CEO Bill Johnson <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/10/18/771486828/california-can-expect-blackouts-for-a-decade-says-pg-e-ceo">said</a>&#xa0;Californians should expect these types of preemptive outages for another 10 years.</p><p>"We recognize the hardship of not having electric service," a PG&amp;E spokesperson told Business Insider in an email. "While we recognize that the scope of these events is unsustainable in the long term, it was the correct decision given the large-scale, historic weather events and ensuing equipment damage that unfolded across our service area."</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>But many Californians say they should have never been forced into this choice: deadly fires or days-long outages. Instead, PG&amp;E's critics accuse the company of shirking safety precautions in order to funnel money towards investor dividends.</p><p>According to Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-10-17/hiltzik-hedge-funds-pge">PG&amp;E might now be</a>&#xa0;"the most detested, and detestable, corporation in California, if not in the observable solar system."</p><p>Here's how the company wound up in this position, and what it could have done instead.</p><h2>PG&amp;E prioritized 'the bottom line over everything'</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>After a PG&amp;E pipeline exploded in 2010, killing eight people, state regulators started investigating the company. They <a href="https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/uploadedFiles/CPUC_Public_Website/Content/Safety/Natural_Gas_Pipeline/News/AgendaStaffReportreOIIPGESanBrunoExplosion.pdf">found</a> that PG&amp;E had collected $224 million more than it was authorized to collect in oil and gas revenue in the decade before the explosion. Meanwhile, it spent millions less than it was supposed to on maintenance and generally fell short of industry safety standards.</p><p>"There was very much a focus on the bottom line over everything: 'What are the earnings we can report this quarter?'" Mike Florio, who was a California utilities commissioner from 2011 to 2016, told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/03/18/business/pge-california-wildfires.html">the New York Times</a>. "And things really got squeezed on the maintenance side."</p><p>A 2017 <a href="http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M235/K399/235399881.PDF">report</a> to state regulators highlighted PG&amp;E's lack of a comprehensive safety strategy, unclear communication about safety between management and field personnel, and the company's tendency to take action only after a major disaster.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Anticipating the cost of billions of dollars in legal claims associated with the Camp Fire and other fires from 2017 and 2018, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pge-biggest-climate-change-bankruptcy-as-utility-files-for-chapter-11-2019-1">PG&amp;E filed for bankruptcy</a> in January.</p><p>"We should not have to be here - years and years of greed, years and years of mismanagement, particularly with the largest investor-owned utility in the state of California, PG&amp;E," California Gov. Gavin Newsom, one of the company's most vocal critics, said in a press conference about the Kincade Fire on October 26. "We will do everything in our power to restructure PG&amp;E so it is a completely different entity when they get out of bankruptcy by June 30th of next year."</p><p>Randy Harris, who owns a gift shop in Santa Rosa that lost customers during the blackouts, told <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/10/29/pges-role-sonoma-fire-questioned-anger-around-power-outages-spreads/">the Washington Post</a> that he shares Gov. Newsom's opinion of his utility company.</p><p>"I think they've been supporting their shareholders and executives more than they've been looking out for the public," Harris said.</p><h2>PG&amp;E needs to trim trees&#xa0;</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Engineers and energy experts are quick to note a long list of safety practices PG&amp;E should have prioritized.</p><p>For one, the company should have been more actively trimming dry trees, many say. Vegetation can ignite when it rubs against high-voltage wires - the kind that sit at the top of the large power lines that run between cities - because those wires aren't usually covered in insulation. (Low-voltage lines that connect to individual homes are generally insulated.)</p><p>"The utilities have tried to do a good job, but they have had a great deal of difficulty in doing safe trimming of their trees," Otto Lynch, CEO of Power Line Systems, an electric-utility software developer, told Business Insider. (Lynch did not comment on PG&amp;E's practices specifically.)</p><p>"If we could just keep the trees away from the wires, we wouldn't have to worry about it," he added.</p><p>In February, PG&amp;E released a $1.6 billion <a href="https://www.pge.com/en/about/newsroom/newsdetails/index.page?title=20190206_pge_submits_2019_wildfire_safety_plan_with_additional_safety_precautions_and_significantly_expanded_public_safety_power_shutoff_program">wildfire-safety plan</a> in which it set goals to clear branches that hang over power lines, identify trees that could fall onto the lines, and more than double the number of trees it trims in 2019.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>As of September 21, however, the company <a href="https://www.pgecurrents.com/2019/10/04/pge-community-wildfire-safety-program-progress-fact-sheet/">had trimmed</a> less than a third of those trees - just 760 miles of the 2,455 miles of power lines it had pledged to clear. PG&amp;E cited a lack of personnel as the reason for the slow progress, according to the <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/PG-E-is-less-than-one-third-done-with-its-2019-14483596.php">San Francisco Chronicle</a>.</p><p>After its first round of blackouts in early October, PG&amp;E discovered <a href="https://www.pgecurrents.com/2019/10/14/15-things-you-need-to-know-about-pges-oct-9-12-public-safety-power-shutoff/">over 100 problems</a> with its power lines. Most of the affected equipment had been inspected in 2018 or 2019, according to the <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires/article/PG-E-to-judge-56-incidents-from-Oct-9-windstorm-14575396.php">San Francisco Chronicle</a>. If electricity had been flowing through those lines, the company told a judge, there were 56 issues - like fallen trees and wind-toppled poles - that could have lit California's bone-dry shrubbery on fire.</p><p>Of those incidents, 44 were caused by vegetation.&#xa0;</p><p>PG&amp;E identified another <a href="https://www.pge.com/en/about/newsroom/newsdetails/index.page?title=20191031_9_pm_psps_update_pge_restores_essentially_all_customers_following_system-wide_historic_and_widespread_wind_events_156_incidents_of_damageshazards_identified_so_far_crews_continuing_to_restore_gas_service_to_customers_impacted_by_kincade_fire">156</a> incidents of damage during more power shutoffs at the end of October.</p><h2>Better, newer equipment could make the grid more resilient</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>The transmission tower that caused the Camp Fire was about 25 years too old by PG&amp;E's own standards, but the utility had not made any moves to replace it in the years leading up to the fire, a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/03/18/business/pge-california-wildfires.html">New York Times investigation</a> found.</p><p>The company's safety plan also set goals about replacing aging hardware and upgrading existing infrastructure. Such upgrades include covering high-voltage wires with insulation to prevent sparks of molten metal from erupting when wires touch branches or slap together in high winds.</p><p>Another simple hardware upgrade mentioned involves replacing wooden poles with sturdier, less flammable ones made from materials like steel or concrete.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>As of August 31, PG&amp;E <a href="https://www.pgecurrents.com/2019/10/04/pge-community-wildfire-safety-program-progress-fact-sheet/">said</a> it had installed fire-resistant poles and covered power lines on 75 miles of its grid in fire-prone areas. It plans to complete 150 miles of these installations by the end of 2019, and 7,100 miles total over the next 10 years.</p><p>The company also plans to replace old equipment with Cal Fire-certified alternatives and install transformers that contain fire-resistant fluid. (Transformers help move electrical currents from high-voltage to low-voltage wires, and the electrical activity inside them is a frequent wildfire culprit. One fire this week in the Bay Area may have been <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires/article/PG-E-to-state-2-Lafayette-fires-linked-to-14568505.php">sparked by a PG&amp;E transformer</a>.)</p><p>PG&amp;E's plan also mentions long-term aspirations to move wires underground in particularly fire-prone areas. For a bankrupt company, though, that's tough: For the price of burying one mile of power lines ($3 million), PG&amp;E could build almost four new miles of overhead lines, according to <a href="http://www.pgecurrents.com/2017/10/31/facts-about-undergrounding-electric-lines/">the company's own estimates</a>.</p><h2>Even good equipment needs to be monitored</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Experts often point to a different California utility as an example of the right approach: San Diego Gas &amp; Electric (SDGE), which implemented many of the changes PG&amp;E has been slow to accomplish after it was sued for causing a destructive 2007 wildfire.</p><p>SDGE also broke up its grid into smaller segments so that it can shut power off only in isolated areas with the highest fire risk.</p><p>Of course, even a fully upgraded, vegetation-cleared power line can occasionally collide with a dry branch, especially amid powerful winds. The Getty Fire in Los Angeles this week was sparked when strong wind caused a broken branch to land across two high-voltage wires.</p><p>&#xa0;</p><p>That's why San Diego Gas &amp; Electric's efforts didn't stop with just clearing trees and fixing equipment.</p><p>The company has also made monitoring its system a priority. It collects data on every pole and transmission tower in its grid, monitors weather conditions for fire risk at 177 stations, and records video with 100 high-definition cameras across its network, according to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/03/18/business/pge-california-wildfires.html">New York Times</a>.</p><p>Overall, the company <a href="https://www.sdge.com/fire-risk-mitigation-initiative-firm">says</a> it has spent $1.5 billion on upgrading, maintaining, and monitoring its power lines since 2007.</p><p>"You're proactive about monitoring the health of an asset. You don't run it to failure," Shawn Chandler, director of IT at the Pacific Northwest utility PacifiCorp, told Business Insider. "The low-hanging fruit in this system, to use a catch phrase, is always with analytics, a smart grid, line sensors, good vegetation management programs, frequent line inspections."</p><p>PG&amp;E's grid extends over a much larger area than SDGE's. But the company plans to follow San Diego's example and install 600 high-definition cameras by 2022, followed by 1,300 weather stations in the next five years.</p><p>As of mid-September, PG&amp;E had installed 94 of those cameras and a total of 600 weather stations.</p><h2>As climate change increases wildfire risk, Californians could be stuck between blackouts and deadly fires more often</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Although PG&amp;E has begun implementing new safety measures, the company is also facing the effects of a warming climate, which causes vegetation to get drier and lengthens the wildfire season.&#xa0;</p><p>A <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/113/42/11770">2016 study</a> found that 75% more forest dried out in the western US from 2000 to 2015. Over that time period, western states gained nine extra days of high fire potential per year, on average.</p><p>Overall, the research showed, climate change has nearly doubled the amount of forest that burned between 1984 and 2015, adding over 10 billion additional acres of burned area. In California in particular, the annual area burned in summer wildfires <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2019EF001210">increased five-fold</a> from 1972 to 2018.</p><p>Nine of the 10 biggest fires in California history have occurred since the year 2003.</p><p>So when power lines do spark, these climate conditions mean drier vegetation is more likely to ignite. Then the resulting fires are more likely to grow than they were 20 years ago.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>As the world continues to warm, wildfires are expected to keep get bigger and more frequent.</p><p>Johnson, PG&amp;E's CEO, has indicated that blackouts will likely continue to be the company's go-to strategy when risk is high.</p><p>"We'll likely have to make this kind of decision again in the future," he said at a <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> conference on October 10.</p><p>In the three weeks since that statement, the company has cut power four times.</p><div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-californians-can-control-the-spread-of-wildfires-2019-10">6 ways Californians can control the spread of wildfires</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Over 1,500 California fires in the last 6 years - including the deadliest ever - were caused by one company: PG&E. Here's what it could have done, but didn't.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>OceanGate is a private research and ocean tourism company founded by CEO Stockton Rush.</li><li>The company has attracted renewed scrutiny since its submersible vessel, Titan, went missing Sunday.</li></ul><p>The search is on for a submersible vessel containing five passengers that was destined for the Titanic ship wreckage before it <a href="https://www.insider.com/missing-titanic-tourist-sub-everything-we-know-so-far-2023-6">went missing</a> on Sunday. The vessel at the center of the search mission, called the Titan, is from OceanGate Expeditions, a private research and ocean adventure tourism company. </p><p>As of Wednesday, the vessel hasn't been located, but the five passengers on board have been identified, including <a href="https://www.insider.com/who-is-stockton-rush-lost-ceo-titan-submarine-oceangate-titanic-2023-6">Stockton Rush</a> — the OceanGate CEO and founder behind the ocean tourism company.</p><h2><strong>What is OceanGate?</strong></h2><p>OceanGate was founded in 2009, with a focus on "increasing access to the deep ocean through innovation of the next generation of crewed submersibles and launch platforms," <a href="https://oceangate.com/about.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to</a> the company's website. The private company is based out of Everett, Washington, and had 47 employees as of April, and has raised a total of $36.81 million in funding, according to data from Pitchbook.</p><p>Along with the Titanic expedition tour, the company offers weekly research opportunities to explore the ocean and observe marine life.</p><p>Its CEO and founder Rush, who was identified as <a href="https://www.insider.com/titanic-sub-passengers-missing-passengers-whos-on-board-oceangate-submersible-2023-6?inline-endstory-related-recommendations=">one of the passengers aboard</a> the missing vessel, has repeatedly stressed a need for balancing safety measures with risk — a point that has gained renewed scrutiny since the vessel went missing. </p><p>Rush, 61, grew up in a wealthy family and originally dreamed of becoming an astronaut, <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/worlds-first-deep-diving-submarine-plans-tourists-see-titanic-180972179/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Smithsonian Magazine reported</a> in 2019. As a student at Princeton University, he told the publication that he juggled his studies in aerospace engineering and work as a commercial pilot.</p><p>Rush had a stint working as a flight test engineer for McDonnell Douglas Corporation, before going on to earn a masters in business from the University of California, <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/oceangate-stockton-rush-explored-wa-waters-before-titanic-expeditions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Seattle Times reported</a>. Then Rush's plans changed: Rush, who long enjoyed scuba diving, wanted to explore the ocean, The Smithsonian reported. </p><p>In an <a href="https://www.insider.com/missing-titanic-sub-ceo-told-reporter-safety-pure-waste-2023-6">interview with CBS reporter David Pogue</a> in November of last year, Rush said that "You know, at some point, safety is just pure waste. I mean, if you just want to be safe, don't get out of bed, don't get in your car, don't do anything. At some point, you're going to take some risk, and it really is a risk-reward question." </p><p>The company has also <a href="https://www.insider.com/titanic-sub-avoided-safety-rules-by-diving-in-international-waters-experts-2023-6">dodged safety rules</a> by operating its exhibitions in international waters, experts previously told Insider. In 2019, OceanGate also said its Titan submersible <a href="https://www.insider.com/lost-titanic-sub-maker-innovation-vessel-not-classed-industry-standards-2023-6">was not checked</a> to verify the vessel met industry standards, because of its "innovation" and that some of the designs could take years to approve.</p><p>In 2018, OceanGate faced a <a href="https://www.insider.com/lost-titanic-sub-maker-oceangate-warned-hull-safety-2018-2023-6">lawsuit from former employee</a> David Lochridge, who said he warned about quality and safety issues related to the Titan vessel. The lawsuit filing claimed that "paying passengers would not be aware, and would not be informed, of this experimental design, the lack of non-destructive testing of the hull, or that hazardous flammable materials were being used within the submersible." In November 2018, an out-of-court settlement was reached.</p><h2><strong>The Titanic shipwreck expeditions</strong></h2><p>OceanGate has been conducting expeditions of the Titanic ship wreckage since 2021, according to the <a href="https://oceangate.com/expeditions/titanic-survey-expedition.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">company's website</a>. These tours can take five people, one pilot and four crew members, in a submersible vessel down to depths of around 13,000 feet into the ocean, according <a href="https://oceangate.com/our-subs/titan-submersible.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to the website</a>. The tour has also been reported to cost $250,000 per person. </p><p>The Titanic tour, which happens annually, runs 10 days in total and starts out near the city of St. John's in Newfoundland, where passengers then embark on 8 days of travel at sea, <a href="https://oceangate.com/expeditions/titanic-survey-expedition.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to</a> the company's website. </p><p>CBS News reporter David Pogue, who previously reported on OceanGate and spent time aboard a Titanic tour, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/video/cbs-news-david-pogue-on-his-experience-diving-on-now-missing-submarine/#x" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told CBS</a> on Tuesday that the Titan is one of the only vessels in the world capable of reaching the depth of the shipwreck. Over the last three summers, OceanGate has conducted about 25 trips down to the wreckage, Pogue said in the interview. </p><p>When reached for comment, a spokesperson for OceanGate told Insider the company was "unable to provide any additional information at this time."</p><h2><strong>What is the OceanGate Titan?</strong></h2><p>The OceanGate submersible used on these Titanic expeditions, called the Titan, is also distinctly <a href="https://www.insider.com/a-submarine-taking-tourists-to-titanic-wreck-has-gone-missing-2023-6">different from a submarine</a>: a submersible is launched into the water from a separate ship, does not have a power port, and is smaller than a submarine. </p><p>The submersible is also steered with a <a href="https://www.insider.com/titanic-tourist-sub-video-game-controller-us-navy-submarines-xbox-2023-6">video game controller</a>, similar to some US Navy submarine designs that use Xbox 360 controllers. While the design may initially raise some eyebrows, the game controller can make submersibles more reliable, Harvard marine scientist Peter Girguis <a href="https://www.insider.com/marine-scientist-submersibles-more-reliable-simple-2023-6">told Insider</a>.</p><p>To go on the trip, crew members need to sign waivers that clearly <a href="https://www.insider.com/titanic-submersible-former-passenger-waiver-page-1-death-3-times-2023-6">outline the risks of death</a>. A <a href="https://www.insider.com/former-titan-passenger-visited-titanic-submersible-knew-he-might-die-2023-6">former passenger on OceanGate's Titan</a>, Mike Reiss told the BBC that "As I was getting onto the sub, that was my thought: 'Well, this could be the end.'"</p><p>"So nobody who's in this situation was caught off guard," Reiss, who went on an OceanGate's trip in 2022, <a href="https://twitter.com/BBCBreakfast/status/1671051689686896640?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told the BBC</a>. "You all know what you are getting into."</p>

What is OceanGate? Meet the company that made a business out of risky deep-sea tours of the Titanic shipwreck.

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6355629" type="DEFINITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="google">Google</keyword> cofounder <keyword id="100154" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sergey-Brin">Sergey Brin</keyword> is building a secretive airship company called LTA.</li><li>The airship will be climate-friendly and deliver humanitarian aid worldwide. </li><li>Brin was inspired by the USS Macon, a massive airship built by the US Navy in the 1930s.</li></ul><p>If Sergey Brin has anything to do with it, the future of humanitarian aid could come in the form of giant <keyword id="1879210" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="airships">airships</keyword> roaming the skies. </p><p>Brin, the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/sergey-brin/">Google cofounder worth over $99 billion</a>, has been working on a secretive airship company for over four years. Known as LTA Research and Exploration - "LTA" being short for "lighter than air" - the company got its start inside NASA's Ames Research Center in 2017. Over the past four years, LTA Research has worked to bring its vision of zero-emission aircrafts to life. </p><p>Here's where Brin's interest in airships began and everything we know so far about his venture. </p><h2>Brin has long had an affinity for all types of aircraft</h2><div type="image" title="Boeing 767-200" height="1666" width="2222" msid="82130254" hostid="261"></div><p>Back in 2005, Brin and his Google cofounder, Larry Page, made an unusual purchase: <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB113107413091988208#CX">a Boeing 767-200</a>, a wide-body jet capable of carrying 180 passengers. The pair refurbished the plane to accommodate 50 passengers and serve as their executive jet, a far cry from the standard, and significantly smaller, Gulfstream jet typically favored by executives. </p><p>According to court documents that were later published by The Wall Street Journal, <a href="https://www.theregister.com/2006/07/07/google_bed_plane/">Page and Brin ended up arguing</a> over what type of beds to put in the so-called "party plane," and they also wanted to install features like hammocks and a cocktail lounge. </p><p>Brin's interest in aircraft extended beyond a company jet: In 2012, during the launch of Google Glass, Brin had a team of skydivers leap from a <keyword id="436595" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="zeppelin">Zeppelin</keyword> hovering over San Francisco. The skydivers <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxmbbtuRszA">captured footage on the headset</a> and Brin aired it live onstage. </p><p>Brin also oversaw the development of various types of aircraft during his time at X, Google's moonshot lab. Projects under the X umbrella included Loon, a way to deliver internet connectivity via balloons; Makani, which planned to provide electricity using kites; and Wing, a drone delivery project. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alphabet-google-internet-balloon-startup-loon-2021-1">Loon</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/makani-power-generating-kite-shutting-down-2020-2">Makani</a> have since been shut down. </p><h2>Brin started working on LTA while he was still president of <keyword id="6357623" type="DEFINITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="alphabet">Alphabet</keyword>, Google's parent company</h2><div type="image" title="USS Macon" height="1891" width="2522" msid="82130256" hostid="261"></div><p>According to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-25/with-secret-airship-sergey-brin-also-wants-to-fly?sref=BWbpWjRm">a 2017 Bloomberg story by Ashlee Vance</a>, Brin decided to build his own airship in 2014 after visiting the Ames Research Center, which is located near Google's Mountain View, California, headquarters.</p><p>Ames was previously home to the USS Macon, a massive airship built by the US Navy in the 1930s - it was that airship that inspired Brin's project, according to Bloomberg. The USS Macon, called "Queen of the Skies," later <a href="https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/photos-from-the-vault/article39471531.html">crashed into the Pacific Ocean</a> 45 miles off the coast of San Francisco, essentially ending the Navy's airship program.</p><p>In 2017, Insider revealed that LTA had paid $131,000 to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lta-research-and-exploration-llc-is-likely-the-name-of-sergey-brins-blimp-project-2017-4">lease hangar space from Alphabet.</a> The hangar was located at Moffett Field, a NASA airfield adjacent to Ames that's currently operated by Google. </p><p>In December 2019, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sergey-brin-google-alphabet-life-photos-2016-12">Brin and Page stepped away</a> from their duties at Alphabet.</p><h2>LTA plans to build a massive, expensive airship</h2><p>According to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/may/26/google-sergey-brin-building-largest-aircraft">a 2017 report from The Guardian's Mark Harris</a>, the airship is expected to be nearly 200 meters long, equivalent to about 656 feet or nearly two football fields in length. </p><p>By comparison, the infamous <a href="https://www.britannica.com/story/the-hindenburg-before-and-after-disaster">Hindenburg Zeppelin was 245 meters long</a>, which is longer than three Boeing 747s. </p><p>Sources told The Guardian that at the time, LTA was being funded by Brin himself, to the tune of over $100 million. It's not clear, four years later, how much Brin has spent on the airships.</p><h2>The airship will be used for humanitarian missions</h2><p>The aircraft will be used to used to bring humanitarian aid, including food and supplies, to remote areas of the world - because airships wouldn't require a traditional airport runway to land, the blimp could theoretically reach regions that are otherwise inaccessible. </p><p>"With these next-generation airships, we strive to improve humanitarian aid delivery and reduce carbon emissions, while providing economic opportunity and new jobs to Americans," <a href="https://www.ltaresearch.com/#about">LTA's website reads</a>.  </p><p>According to The Guardian, Brin also wanted the blimp to be luxuriously appointed so it could serve as an "intercontinental air yacht" for his friends and family. </p><h2>LTA's airship will also be more climate-friendly than an airplane</h2><div type="image" title="Airship" height="1657" width="2209" msid="82130258" hostid="261"></div><p>According to <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/Sergey-Brin-Google-airship-blimp-zeppelin-LTA-16030652.php">SFGate's Madeline Wells</a>, airships are faster than cargo ships and produce 80% to 90% fewer emissions than traditional aircraft. </p><p>LTA says on its website that its goal is to eventually build "a family of aircraft with zero emissions." </p><p><a href="https://www.goodyearblimp.com/behind-the-scenes/blimp-science.html">Airships like the Goodyear blimp</a> have been filled with helium since the Hindenburg disaster - the Hindenburg relied on hydrogen to lift it off the ground, but hydrogen is extremely flammable.</p><p>But LTA appears to be revisiting the use of hydrogen with its aircraft. A recent LTA job listing <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/25/sergey-brins-airship-will-use-worlds-biggest-mobile-hydrogen-fuel-cell/">spotted by TechCrunch</a> stated that the company was looking for a hydrogen program manager - according to TechCrunch, the company wants to develop its own massive hydrogen fuel cell, which would weigh less than a lithium-ion battery and be powerful enough that the airship could cross oceans.</p><p>LTA would still rely on helium in order to lift the aircraft off the ground, TechCrunch reports.</p><h2>An LTA airship could take to the skies in 2021</h2><p>TechCrunch reports that LTA has already built a prototype aircraft called Pathfinder 1. The airship will still be powered by lithium-ion batteries, have 12 electric motors, and be capable of transporting 14 passengers.</p><p>It may be ready to fly as soon as this year, according to TechCrunch. </p><h2>LTA has also been contributing the nation's COVID-19 response</h2><p>The company says on its website that it used the laser cutters and 3D printers at its facilities in Mountain View and Akron, Ohio, to produce roughly 150 components for face shields per day, <a href="https://www.ltaresearch.com/our-covid-19-response/">contributing over 250,000 free face shields</a> to hospitals, medical practices, and emergency workers nationwide in the early months of the pandemic.</p><p>LTA later partnered with NGOs around the world, ultimately providing over 5 million face shields globally, the company says. </p>

Google cofounder Sergey Brin has been working on a secretive airship company for over 4 years. Here's how the billionaire plans to use the 'air yacht' to deliver humanitarian aid.

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>Tesla fires have become a battleground for the company's supporters and detractors.</strong></li><li><strong>Supporters say the media makes too much of Tesla fires. Detractors say Tesla isn't being open enough about what causes them.</strong></li><li><strong>Some fires start after a crash. But others - like a recent fire that started in a Model S sitting in a parking lot in Shanghai - seem to have started for no reason at all.</strong></li></ul><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>"There are really only a few reasons why a lithium-ion battery catches on fire," one fire expert told Business Insider. "Liquid, dead short, or spontaneous combustion [every] one in a billion [battery cells]."</strong></li><li><strong>Factors outside the battery, like a crash or other damage, matter. But manufacturing issues matter too.</strong></li></ul><p>There was yet another Tesla fire, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-model-s-fire-explosion-shanghai-parking-garage-2019-4">this time in Shanghai.</a>&#xa0;</p><p>It broke out as a Tesla Model S was sitting in a parking garage. The car had not just suffered impact as in previous fire cases, and it was not charging. Thankfully, no one was hurt. The company is investigating the incident.</p><p>In the world of Tesla, fires have become a battleground for the company's supporters and detractors. Supporters accuse the media of making too much of the sometimes <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-model-s-crash-that-killed-two-teens-being-investigated-by-ntsb-2018-5">grizzly incidents.</a> They point out that combustible engine fires happen all the time without garnering any attention.</p><p>Detractors accuse the company of not being open enough about the cause of the fires, and why they sometimes occur even though a car has not suffered any apparent kind of impact.</p><h2><strong>Heated</strong></h2><p>The debate has gotten so intense that CEO Elon Musk has taken to his Twitter account to dispell any notions that electric vehicles are more dangerous than cars with internal combustion engines (ICE).</p><p>Chris Brown of Aristides Capital (who tweets under the moniker <a href="https://twitter.com/MidwestHedgie/status/1120856472102100992">@midwesthedgie</a>, and is short Tesla) responded to Musk by walking through the numbers using data from the <a href="https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-tools/ARCHIVED/Fire-statistics/Vehicle-fires/Highway-vehicle-fires">National Fire Protection Association</a> (where the most recent data available is from 2015).</p><p>Brown broke it down like this:</p><ul><li>From 2011 to 2015 an average of 325 people died in ICE vehicle fires per year in the USA.</li><li>That's out of <span>263.6 million registered vehicles in the USA.</span></li><li><span>That means there have been about 1.23 fire deaths per million vehicles per year from 2011 to 2015. Most of them, <a href="https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-tools/ARCHIVED/Fire-statistics/Vehicle-fires/Vehicle-fire-trends-and-patterns">58%, start with a vehicle collision/overturn</a>.</span></li><li><span>Tesla has yet to build a million total cars, but it has grown its fleet substantially in the last few years. In 2016 it had only 183,000 cars on the road. In February of last year it produced its <a href="https://electrek.co/2018/02/14/tesla-delivered-300000th-vehicle/">300,000th car.</a> </span></li><li><span>At the start of 2019 Tesla had about 530,000 cars on the road all over the world, the vast majority of those being in the US.</span></li><li>"<span>Thus, if Tesla were an average car, we would have expected 0.23 Tesla fire deaths in 2016, 0.35 in 2017, 0.45 deaths in 2018, and 0.16 deaths in 1Q 2019," Brown wrote. <strong>That's a total of 1.19 fire deaths over 3 years.</strong></span></li></ul><p>Tragically, that isn't what has been happening.</p><p>Last month, a Davie, Florida man died after his Tesla crashed into a tree and ignited. First responders <a href="https://www.businessinsider.sg/florida-man-dies-after-his-tesla-model-s-crashed-caught-fire-2019-2/">were reportedly</a> not able to open the car's extendable door handles.</p><p>In December 2018, a <a href="https://t.co/DntMEMgHlR">woman in New Hampshire </a>died after her car crashed and ignited.</p><p>In <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article224101995.html">May 2018 two teenagers </a>in Fort Lauderdale, Florida died after Tesla Model S crashed into a wall and the battery caught fire.</p><p><a href="https://t.co/vH3mPlCDiE">And</a> there's <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tesla-crash-ntsb/u-s-opens-probe-into-fatal-tesla-crash-fire-in-california-idUSKBN1H32OT">more.</a></p><p>Business Insider has counted at least 20 reported incidents of Teslas catching on fire since 2013 and five deaths in the last 14 months.</p><p>That is some of why these fires are getting so much attention. It's life, death, and math.</p><p>Tesla called this calculation "misleading" because the occupants of these cars would have died when their cars crashed whether the cars caught on fire or not.</p><p>"<span>The calculation cited by Business Insider is highly misleading because it implies that each of the cited fatalities were caused by fire-related injuries, whereas most traffic fatalities - even ones where a crash results in a fire - are due to impact-related injuries caused by the initial crash," said Tesla's spokesperson. </span></p><p><span>"Based on the evidence, in every such case we know of involving a Tesla vehicle, the occupant would have died whether the crash resulted in a fire or not. This analysis is also flawed in that it compares our powerful performance vehicles to the buses, motorcycles and trucks that are included in U.S. vehicle registration data."</span></p><p><em>If you have any experience working with electric vehicle fires (Tesla's or any other car's) email me at llopez@businessinsider.com.</em></p><h2><strong>How it burns</strong></h2><p>The majority of these Tesla fires seem to be caused by the electric vehicle's battery suffering some kind of trauma, sometimes by crashing at high speeds. In the Davie, Florida incident the driver was going between 75 mph and 90 mph on a road with a 50 mph speed limit. The two teens who died in Fort Lauderdale were going 116 mph.</p><p>"Whether it's <span>Tesla fires, or BMW or Fisker, if you look at the ones that caught on fire, almost every single one of them was operating outside of agency testing parameters," auto extrication and fire rescue expert <a href="https://advancedextrication.com/bio/">Brock Archer</a> told Business Insider over the phone. "They were going too fast and ended up crashing."&#xa0;</span></p><p>But there have been a few fires, like the one in Shanghai, in which the battery was not damaged. These fires are strange even to those who have focused on preparing for an electric vehicle revolution.</p><p><span>"There are really only a few reasons why a lithium-ion battery catches on fire," Archer said.&#xa0;"Liquid, dead short, or spontaneous combustion [every] one in a billion [battery cells]."</span></p><p><span>Every Tesla battery is made up of thousands of cells, which are configured into the modules that make up a battery pack. So while one out of every billion cells sounds like a lot, consider that Tesla's Gigafactory aims to make 3 million cells a day, and <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-tesla-musk-panasonic-20190422-story.html">Elon Musk thinks that's not enough</a>. He wants more. </span></p><p><span>The arrival of lithium-ion batteries on the road is a unique challenge for rescue experts, who have ramped up efforts to teach first responders around the world the best practices for fighting lithium-ion battery fires.&#xa0;</span></p><p><span>We should note here that Archer said that you are 8.2% less likely to be in an electric vehicle fire than an ICE fire - you're 10 times less likely in a hybrid since its high voltage battery is smaller - and that he thinks fighting an electric vehicle fire is no more difficult than fighting an ICE fire if you know what you're doing.&#xa0;</span></p><p><span>We should also note that he's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X_WorH4pUw">worked closely with Tesla</a> on fire fighting <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n5Wf7TlGrU">in the past.</a></span></p><p><span>A damaged battery cell - whether the damage has been done by some kind of impact, water damage, or manufacturing defect - can go into</span><span> "thermal runaway." That's when the temperature in the cell rapidly increases and then triggers the same reaction in another cell and another one after that. That is called "cellular propagation," and in some cases, it manages to stop itself inside the battery.</span></p><p><span>In other cases, though, you've got </span><span>a fire on your hands.</span></p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/panasonic-battery-cell-operations-tesla-gigafactory-chaotic-2019-4">Insiders describe a world of chaos and waste at Panasonic's massive battery-making operation for Tesla</a></em></p><h2><strong>A different fire</strong></h2><p><a href="https://youtu.be/8n5Wf7TlGrU">According to the training videos</a> being disseminated across the first responder world, firefighters cannot put out a lithium-ion battery fire with foam or dry chemicals. <span>These fires cannot be fought with anything but 500 to 8,000 gallons of water and patience. Responders should expect a longer commitment time to the fight than they would in a combustible engine fire, and they should be mindful that the fire could reignite days after it seemed to have stopped.</span></p><p><span>That's what happened during another strange incident in Los Gatos, California last December. </span></p><p><span>The owner of a 2018 Tesla Model S with about 1200 miles on the odometer took&#xa0;<a href="https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2018/12/18/officials-investigate-mysterious-tesla-fire-los-gatos/">the car to a repair shop</a> after getting a flat tire on the highway. While the owner was inside the repair shop around 2 pm, the car suddenly ignited and firefighters were called. They used about 2,000 gallons of water to put the fire out.</span></p><p><span>The car reignited at the shop around 10 pm.</span></p><p><span>(This is why experts say that any electric vehicle that has experienced a battery fire should be kept 50 feet from any objects for a few days.)</span></p><p>A police report obtained by Business Insider could not determine the cause of the Los Gatos fire. Archer says that this is because oftentimes the source of the fire is so damaged that it's impossible to say what exactly caused the battery to go into thermal runaway - whether it was triggered by something outside the battery or a defect inside the battery.</p><p>To be fair, Tesla is not the only company that has dealt with stationary cars catching on fire. <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/bmw-recalls-million-vehicles-fire-risk/story?id=50922136">In 2017 BMW recalled</a> a million cars with defective <span>PCV valve heaters and blower motor system connectors after <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Business/bmw-mystery-fires-abc-news-investigation/story?id=47335778">ABC did an investigation</a> into mysterious fires starting in parked BMWs that would sometimes reignite days after being put out.</span></p><p><span>"At BMW, the safety of our customers is a top priority," said BMW spokesman Hector Arellano-Belloc said in a statement after the recall was announced. "We understand the serious nature of a vehicle fire, which is why we are taking appropriate steps to repair our customers' vehicles."</span><span></span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><h2><strong>One in a billion</strong></h2><p>Archer stressed that there can be a lot of factors contributing to an electric vehicle fire from the outside, like any damage to the battery, but also the car's state of charge. Most incidents, he said, occur when a car is fully charged or charging.</p><p>And since a single defective cell can trigger thermal runaway, manufacturing glitches matter too.</p><p>That is why, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/panasonic-battery-cell-operations-tesla-gigafactory-chaotic-2019-4">as Business Insider previously reported</a>, an oil spill on the Panasonic operating side of Tesla's Gigafactory last September sent the factory scrambling. <span>The spill was detected on September 17, according to internal documents viewed by Business Insider, but it's unclear exactly when it started. Mechanical oil got onto one of Panasonic's massive machines used to press battery chemicals into a sheet.</span></p><p><span>The machine then contaminated any of the product it touched. Employees had to stop what they were doing and sift through millions of nearly-finished battery cells to find potentially affected products, sources said. They searched for cells dating back to September 11t</span></p><p><span>Not all potentially-damaging incidents are that dramatic, though. Sources also reported incidents of tools or scissors falling into the massive 16 foot high mixers that churn lithium and other chemicals.</span></p><p>Greg Less, the technical director of the University of Michigan Energy Institute's Battery Fabrication and Characterization User Facility, told Business Insider that if a piece of shrapnel - something as small as a millimeter or half a millimeter - got into the lithium mix, the battery cell could potentially cause a hard short or even a fire.</p><p>"That's horrifying. If you have something metal inside of your mixer and its grinding around in your mixing jar you're going to get shrapnel," he said.</p><p><span>A Tesla spokesperson said that it conducts multiple tests on battery cells once they're received from Panasonic and that cells that don't make the cut are sent back to Panasonic.</span></p><p><span>"Tesla vehicles achieved the lowest probability of injury of any vehicles ever tested by U.S. government [NCAP] safety rating program," Tesla said in a statement to Business Insider, "and based on our fleet of over 500,000 electric cars, we know that a Tesla vehicle is approximately 10 times less likely to experience a fire than a gas car."</span></p><p><em>If you have any experience working with Tesla or Panasonic, email me at llopez@businessinsider.com.</em></p><p class="tagline">Get the latest Tesla stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/TSLA-Quote"> <strong>here.</strong></a></p><div></div><div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/automakers-spend-millions-on-concept-cars-they-dont-make-2019-4">Why top automakers spend millions on concept cars they don't plan on making</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

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