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Medium & Heavy-Duty Zero Emissions Vehicles

Assessment of Information and Training Available for the Fire Service

One of Canada’s commitments to a greener and more sustainable future is the introduction of Zero-Emissions technologies. These technologies leave little carbon footprint and allow Canada to maintain transportation and supply chain infrastructure.  

While this is strongly supported by the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, there are fire safety issues with these new technologies that need to be considered.  In the absence of a National Fire Administration, CAFC and members of its Dangerous Goods Committee were pleased to help identify some of these considerations.  

The report reviews selected research and educational initiatives that inform emergency response to electric vehicle or lithium-ion fires, with a focus on medium and heavy duty zero emissions vehicles. Its main conclusions are that there are many sources of information, including research that is in progress and possible guidelines, but there is no consensus on emergency response in Canada or internationally.  

At the World Fire Congress which CAFC attended earlier in 2024, this sentiment, which applies not only to Medium and Heavy-Duty vehicles, but to any vehicle or mobility device with lithium-ion batteries, writ large, was expressed by 56 different nations.  That said, this report also contains a review and listing of these sources. We hope all members of the fire service and policy leaders find it helpful.

This work would not have been possible without the generous funding of Transport Canada. We express tremendous thanks to the Zero Emission Trucking Program of Transport Canada and ask readers to kindly note the disclaimer from Transport Canada on this report.

We also thank Mr. Kevan Jess, who was retained by CAFC to research and pen this report and Ms. Zoe Boicescu and Dr. Tina Saryeddine who assisted. They had the generous support of the members of the CAFC Dangerous Goods Committee, to whom we are extremely grateful.  

In closing, it is our hope that this report will help both fire services and policy leaders in all levels of government, understand, prepare for, and fill gaps in the domain of zero emissions technologies.  

If you have any questions or comments about this report, you may forward them to us through the CAFC’s Executive Director, Dr. Tina Saryeddine at 613-324-1078 or by email to tsaryeddine@cafc.ca.

Additional resources can also be found on the related webpage at: https://cafc.ca/page/green-technology

Download the report

View the table of training resources here