LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — When you saw video of first responders at the scene of the Tesla Cybertruck bombing outside of the Trump International Hotel on New Year's Day, you might've wondered what the big tarp-like thing firefighters were using to smother the car was.
Clark County Fire Department Deputy Fire Chief Billy Samuels had the answer at a news conference Wednesday.
"We did extinguish the fire with assistance of the sprinkler systems, and along with that electric vehicle blanket that we use on those operations," Samuels said.
An electric vehicle fire blanket, something that not a lot of people were aware of, including Tesla driver Zaid Alawad.
"I didn't know that was a thing," Alawad said.
Clark County Fire Chief John Steinbeck says the blankets are just one more tool in their toolbox, designed specifically to tackle the unique challenges an electric car fire provides due to the lithium batteries and other toxic fumes they emit.
You may remember the two lithium battery fires last year that caused substantial delays on nearby freeways as firefighters had to wait for the fires to burn themselves out: on I-15 near Baker, Calif. in July, and on US-95 north of Las Vegas in September.
WATCH MORE: Highway north of Las Vegas cleared after crash caused lithium battery fire
Crews were able to get a handle on the Cybertruck fire fairly quickly, so what made the difference?
Steinbeck says even though the truck exploded, the lithium battery inside didn't catch fire. Responding crews didn't know that at the time, however, so they deployed two electric vehicle fire blankets to smother the flames.
The electric vehicle fire blankets are huge tarps that smother an electric car that's on fire–Steinbeck says they're pretty heavy and can take four or five firefighters to deploy.
Crews will still spray water on the car–as they did with the Cybertruck on Wednesday–to knock down flames on its interior furnishings, like car seats, before deploying the blanket.
Steinbeck said when electric cars started getting more and more popular, the fire service as a whole had to figure out what they needed to do to be prepared for the eventuality that some would catch fire, and that's when these blankets were developed.
CCFD has been using them for several years, though Steinbeck wasn't sure of the exact date. He also wasn't sure exactly how much each one cost, but said they're extremely expensive.
In fact, a quick Google search shows an electric vehicle fire blanket starts at around $1,500 on the very low end.
So, these electric vehicle fire blankets are extremely expensive and extremely cumbersome to use–it's for those reasons that, believe it or not, Chief Steinbeck doesn't recommend you get one if you're an electric car owner.
He says if your electric, hybrid or gasoline car is on fire, the best thing to do is call 911 and leave it to the professionals.
Still, this whole ordeal has electric car drivers like Zaid Alawad thinking about taking extra precautions in the future.
"If, somehow down the road, a small business or a startup would come up with something that's more practical when it comes to a more personalized version of [the electric vehicle fire blankets] that we could keep in the trunk or somewhere handy, kind of like a fire extinguisher," Alawad said. "Then in, God forbid, any worst case scenarios it would be easier to deploy, and hopefully it would be less expensive to purchase."
