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Fire is a stable exothermic chain reaction of flammable materials brought together with oxygen or other oxidizing substances under certain conditions, occurring uncontrollably. Fire vehicles interfere with many types of fire, such as wildfires, factory fires, building fires, etc. During this intervention, fire vehicles generally use water or foam. In this study, new effective fire suppression applications are investigated. Thermal camera applications in fire trucks and also new extinguishing agents—boron-based chemicals—were tested in forest fire simulations. In these experiments, it was observed that the thermal camera detected the fire as soon as it occurred. It seemed appropriate to use thermal cameras for all types of fire vehicles (foam trucks, water tankers, rescue trucks, etc.). It was seen that the thermal camera application could detect and monitor the fire during the fire-extinguishing work of the firefighters. The boron-based fire suppressant had a better extinguishing and cooling effect than water in the experiments. Compared to the water used as a traditional method, the liquid boron-based extinguisher provided 22% faster—while the solid boron-based extinguisher provided 42% faster—suppression and cooling. With three separate experiments, it is predicted that thermal camera applications and the use of boron-based extinguishers in fire vehicles can lead to an effective and positive transformation in the coming years.

With the improvement of lithium-ion battery (LIB) technology, safety is becoming increasingly urgent topic for battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Short circuits, overcharging, high temperatures and overheating can cause thermal runaway reactions and the release of the flammable electrolyte which makes fire suppression very difficult. This study focuses on the mechanism of thermal runaway and fire suppression applications of LIBs. In order to understand this, 10 experiments were carried out. The experiments were divided into as Exp. A and Exp. B. A manual water suppression system was used in Exp. A and an automatic boron-based suppression system (AUT-BOR) was used in Exp. B. LIBs were heated in a controlled manner with a heat source and the effects of thermal runaway and fire suppression were observed. In Exp. A, a large amount of water was required to extinguish the LIB fires. The holes and slits which formed in the LIB after a fire were useful for injecting water. A projectile effect of cylindrical cells was observed in Exp. A. The Exp. B results showed that AUT-BOR mitigates risks effectively and safely. Also, AUT-BOR provides an early fire warning system and spot cooling to prevent thermal runaway reactions while localizing and suppressing the fire. In Exp. B, fire detection and suppression occurred without any explosion.