New layer of response: Lithium-ion

Kelowna Fire Department assistant training officer Bryan Nykilchuk joins host Tom DeSorcy to discuss the emerging risks electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries pose to the fire service. A career firefighter since 2005, Nykilchuk began researching EV and battery hazards after learning about a 2025 incident in Sacramento, Calif., where four firefighters were exposed to a Tesla undergoing thermal runaway despite being several hundred feet away. He has since developed an EV and lithium-ion battery awareness program for Kelowna firefighters that covers key hazards, response considerations and the strategies and tactics crews can use when responding to battery-involved incidents.This episode is brought to you by VFIS of Canada, a division of CVIS Incorporated, Canada’s largest insurer of firefighters since 1991.