Fire

Approach and extinguish a fire using proper vehicle fire fighting practices as recommended by NFPA, IFSTA, or the National Fire Academy (USA).

- Extinguishing Agent
Water has been proven to be a suitable extinguishing agent.

- Initial Fire Attack
Perform a fast, aggressive fire attack.
Divert the runoff from entering watershed areas.
Attack teams may not be able to identify a RX 400h until the fire has been knocked down and overhaul operations have commenced.

- Fire in the HV Battery Pack
Should a fire occur in the NiMH HV battery pack, attack crews should utilize a water stream or fog pattern to extinguish any fire within the occupant cabin except for the HV battery pack.

WARNING: High voltage electricity can cause death or serious injury from severe burns or electric shock.

The battery modules are contained within a metal case and access is limited to duct openings under the rear seat.

To avoid death or serious injury from severe burns or electric shock, never breach or remove the high voltage battery cover under any circumstance including fire.

When allowed to burn themselves out, the RX 400h NiMH battery modules burn rapidly and can quickly be reduced to ashes except for the metal.

Offensive Fire Attack
Normally flooding the NiMH HV battery pack with copious amounts of water at a safe distance will effectively control the HV battery pack fire by cooling the adjacent NiMH battery modules to a point below their ignition temperature. The remaining modules on fire, if not extinguished by the water, will burn themselves out.

However, flooding the RX 400h HV battery pack is not recommended due to battery design and forward location preventing the responder from properly applying water through the available vent openings safely. It is recommended that the incident commander allow the RX 400h HV battery pack to burn itself out.

Defensive Fire Attack
If the decision has been made to fight the fire using a defensive attack, the fire attack crew should pull back a safe distance and allow the NiMH battery modules to burn themselves out. During this defensive operation, fire crews may utilize a water stream or fog pattern to protect exposures or to control the path of smoke.