Rank: New forum user 
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Good morning, Having witnessed a battery bank fire when on a safety tour this week I was hoping to find information on dealing with such fires. I have searched Google and can find lots of information for small installations and lithium batterys, but very limited for sealed lead-acid banks. I found a research document by the NFPA: Fire Hazard Assessment Lead Acid Batteries, July 2020, that agrees information is very limited! The type of installallaton in question is like a posh shipping container with batterys filling one end and a switchroom the other, separted by a door. These sit next to its own package generator and there are several pairings lining up next to the main building. (if you know you know!) If anybody can point me in the direction of a fire emergency plan, or and ACOP, I would be extremely grateful. Thanks for reading! David
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Rank: Super forum user
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I totally agree, there is precious little 'formal' information out there. Can I ask do you want a standard which relates to first aid firefighting or emergency procedures to be adopted by staff? The reason I ask is that a lead acid battery fire in an enclosed shipping contain type structure would almost certainly be too hazardous to deal with by first aid firefighting (extinguishers and no BA)
I had dealt with the after effects of a significant UPS lead acid battery stack fire a few years ago where even the fire service got it badly wrong and several crew members were hospitalised after they failed to rig in chemical protection suits.
Investigations revealled that their SOPs were totally inadequate and risks associated with such battery packs accounted for one small paragraph hidden in a larger guidance document.
Our staff procedures were clear. Any visible smoke of flames or suspected fire involving a battery pack required staff evacuation and fire service intervention
By the way, another fact that came from the investigation was the battery stack had been installed against the wall of this small room. This I assume is likely in a shipping container. This meant that routine inspectios of batteries for discolouration and structural deformities was only possible on one side of the batteries. This was a likely secondary cause of the fire and was rectified immediately
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 3 users thanked Messey for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Apologies about the big block of text above
I did enter spaces, but this forum software seems to do its own thing sometimes :(
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Rank: Super forum user
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Hi, My screen name is the clue "ExDeeps" - I was a submariner and specifically the main battery maintainer looking after lead acid batteries on nuclear submarines.... So, if this battery of yours is in a shipping container I would suggest that you make the container able to be sealed air tight, i.e. no air in or gasses out. Normally you want air flow to ventilate H2 but in the event of a fire seal the container, open the isolators and boundary cool it - for a long time. No heroics trying to enter or anything else. On a boat we had two ventilation flaps (intake, exhaust) and two battery tank hatcheds that could be screwed down to seal and finally a battery dip tube, primarily used to check the sump for leaking acid / condensate but it could also be used to check if the fire was out as it was a 2" tube with a screw down cap. When convinced the fire is out take the cap off carefully - air sucked in? Put the lid back and wait, smoke blown out - fire is out but still wait till the tank / container is cold.
Caveat, this is more my reminisces than latest best practice as it's been a while and this may not be best practice any more but it was the plan on a submarine but bottom line is don't do anything heroic like use 1st aid fire fighting kit on lead acid cells that are having a bad day ExDeeps
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1 user thanked ExDeeps for this useful post.
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Rank: New forum user
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Thanks for your replies, both are very interesting. I guess I am looking for an emergency procedure to cover such an event on discovery.
I think the guys conducting the load test should not have needed to look in the battery room to see what was happening after they heard the breaker trip (they were in the switch room next door). I agree they should not have attempted to fight the fire, but probably went back to basic training not realising the enhanced risks, rather than close the door and call the emergency services.
I have spoken to a colleage who works in these data centres in the UK and all his plant rooms have cameras and fire suppression, so there would be no need to open the door, which seems sensible. Plans are afoot to recommend using thermal imaging on the cells when conducting load tests in the future, to spot failure early, before a catastrophic breakdown. But this is a recommendation from the commissioning team to the client, if it is adopted going forward remains to be seen. I don't think the container had AFD to automatically close ventilation upon a fire which would seem sensible. I am back on some more sites in Spain next week so will have a look at those. Thanks again.
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Rank: Super forum user
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There are only a few operational referneces in the UK for this and you would normally find it in the GRA HAZMAT Manual (Parts 1 and 2)...but I think that has been superceded https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/15082/GRA_Hazmat_Manual_part_1.pdf
WEBWISER is design to give first responders (US Based) information on the hazards and does included immediate actions...worth a wee look..it is ued world wide and isn't a bad tool... https://webwiser.nlm.nih.gov/substance?identifier=Sulphuric+acid&identifierType=alias&substanceId=316
US News article - Lessoons from losses... https://www.fireengineering.com/firefighting/haz-mat-responds-to-leaking-battery-acid/
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1 user thanked stevedm for this useful post.
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