Firefighters move to minimise risk from emerging renewable technology

Firies told the Leader they had started adapting their tactics to account for potential fire risks posed by lithium-ion battery fires as more solar, wind, and battery energy storage systems (BESS) enter the pipeline for the New England Renewable Energy Zone (REZ).

Fire and Rescue NSW New England North West zone commander Superintendent Tom Cooper said many units had undertaken training and were now prepared to contain a large lithium-ion battery fire.

"NSW Fire and Rescue will be in a good position to deal with these things once these projects come online," he said.

"Once these projects are completed, the firefighters will go out and do pre-incident planning and apply our standard operation guidelines."

These assessments will be completed for the recently approved Calala BESS, along with the proposed Kingswood and Tamworth BESS projects.

All renewable energy developers are required to supply a bushfire assessment report and a fire safety study to the NSW Department of Planning and Environment for any proposed projects.

While lithium-ion battery fires are more difficult to extinguish, renewable energy developers have previously told the Leader new technologies were helping to ensure these projects don't catch fire in the first place.

"Any installation of this nature has to go through our fire safety division before it goes ahead," Superintendent Cooper said.

NSW Fire and Rescue has proactively updated its practices, learning from past fires and incidences at other renewable energy sites.

"Electrical safety has been of paramount importance in NSW Fire and Rescue for the last 10 to 12 years," Superintendent Cooper said.

"There have been very stringent rules in regards to how we deal with electricity ... because we cannot see it, nor can we smell it."

Superintendent Cooper said the main concern for firefighters regarding lithium-ion batteries was whether they were hooked up to the grid.

"That is something we have to take into account right away," he said.

"If an emergency occurs, we will have a subject matter expert from the energy company there to ensure the safety of the firefighters, because if it is hooked up to the grid, there could be other things such as transformers and condensers that pose a risk if we start putting water on those fires.

"Most of these storage units are isolated from any sort of infrastructure, and the land is cleared around them, so if they do catch fire, these fires do not pose a risk to any surrounding houses and bush."

But, the main hazard firefighters face from lithium battery fires, on a small or larger scale, is "thermal runaway".

"This is where the battery itself for some reason develops a fault and overheats, which results in a domino effect in that battery," Superintendent Cooper said.

"This can give off toxic gases, and these batteries develop a large amount of oxygen when they burn, so it can make the fire more intense.

"The main thing we do in this situation is cool down the rest of the battery to stop that domino effect."

Due to the material used in the batteries firefighters have found the best way to control these fires is to control the combustion to prevent the fire runaway to the bush or surrounding homes.

The recent addition of the hazardous materials incidents truck to New England fleet will help fire crews tackle these situations.

"We also have the use of thermal imaging camera's and the use of drones to give us a better picture of what is happening," Superintendent Cooper said.

"I understand people are concerned, but as technology gets better than these things will be safe."