**PHOTO RELEASE** CFO and State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis Launches Electric Vehicle Fire Training for Florida’s First Responders
9/28/2018
BOCA RATON, FLA. – Florida’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis announced in a press conference in Boca Raton today, the launch of Electric Vehicle Fire training for Florida’s first responders. This new statewide training will offer courses for firefighters on alternative fuel vehicles and help them better understand how to prepare for and extinguish lithium-ion battery fires found in many electric vehicles.
CFO Jimmy Patronis said, “Every day we are seeing more electric vehicles on Florida’s roadways and this training will empower our firefighters to successfully respond to these potentially deadly fires. Florida must be a leader when it comes to cutting edge technology, but we also must be on the forefront of protecting Floridians and first responders. Fire departments around the state will now be equipped with the latest information on how to best manage electric vehicle fires so that they can do their job safely and effectively.”
According to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, in 2017, there were 16,116 electric vehicles registered in Florida and 231,015 electric and gas hybrids. Although electric batteries aren’t necessarily more prone to fire than gasoline, these kinds of vehicle fires require alternative tactics to extinguish.
CFO Patronis is also currently delivering over 4,000 cancer-fighting decontamination kits to more than 405 fire departments statewide. These kits will also help our firefighters protect themselves from potentially new poisonous chemicals they may face when dealing with electric vehicle fires.