The controversy swirling around whether a Chevy Volt sparked a blaze at a Connecticut home last Thursday has become more of an issue than the fire itself with political agendas on both sides of the environmental issue working the story.
Along with a new Chevy Volt, this 1987 Suzuki Samurai which Conn. resident Storm Connors reportedly converted to run on electricity were destroyed in a garage fire last Thursday. Investigators and engineers from General Motors are working to determine if the Volt played any part in the blaze. Barkhamsted, Conn. - Insurance company investigators and engineers from General Motors are looking into whether a Chevy Volt or its charging station are to blame for a fire that destroyed a garage in Connecticut last week, according to a report published in the Hartford Courant.
The issue would be a little less complicated if firefighters weren't called back to the same Barkhamsted home Monday to find the electric-hybrid Chevy Volt's battery on fire, even though the car was unplugged and had not been moved since the initial fire that destroyed the garage it was in and another vehicle.
Around 4 a.m. last Thursday, Storm and Dee Connors awoke at about 4 a.m. to find their adjoined garage burning.
A video report on the initial fire by New Haven-based ABC affiliate WTNH
Firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze and credited a firewall for saving their home. The fire did destroy the Connors' Chevy Volt and a 1987 Suzuki Samurai which Storm had converted to run on electricity.
Both vehicles were plugged in and charging at the time of the fire, according to published media reports. Then around 6 a.m. Monday, fire crews were called back to the Connors' home to find the Volt's battery smoldering even though the vehicle was unplugged.
"Our engineering experts have inspected the Chevrolet Volt severely damaged in a garage fire in Barkhamsted," said Doug Parks, GM's global electric vehicle executive in a statement Monday. "We believe the findings indicate the Volt was damaged by the fire, not the cause. While the Volt's battery pack sustained damage, it was not extensive enough or of the type that would suggest that it caused the fire. In addition, there is clear evidence based on moderate damage to the cordset and charging system that neither component caused the fire."
Storm Connors maintains an online blog where he has detailed electric modifications he has made to his home and his vehicles. On the blog, he discusses changing out parts and installing a battery cooling system for the converted Suzuki which he admits were made out of household parts including a "pasta cooker" from Ocean State Job Lot which he reportedly bought for $.88 cents.
The issue of whether a car designed to minimize a carbon footprint could start such a fire has been polarizing, at least politically.
With a fully charged battery, Volt offers an initial electric range of 35 miles without any gas or tailpipe emissions. After that, it can travel for a total range of up to 375 miles with the extended range mode until you can plug it in or fill it up again, according to General Motors. Fox News posted a short summary of the incident online with the headline "Two Chevy Volts Catch Fire in One Week!" when indeed only one Chevy Volt was involved with GM reporting no similar incidents in the model's young lifetime.
"When his garage burned down last week, Storm Connors defended his beloved hybrid cars charging inside and said they couldn't have caused the fire," the online Fox News report said. "But the environmentally-friendly credentials of his Chevy Volt - and the green driver's carbon footprint - took another hit today when its battery caught fire again, even though the car was unplugged."
Electric car enthusiasts have been quick to defend the vehicle and its reputation, striking back at bloggers and news outlets who have seemingly used the incident as political fodder about environmental issues when there has been no definitive conclusion to the fire investigation.
GM has reportedly cooperated and aided the investigation, all the while asking people to be patient as their engineers and the Connecticut State Fire Marshal's Office work to determine the cause of the fire.
“Everybody seems to be leaping to this conclusion, that it is somehow related to the Volt,” said GM spokesman Rob Peterson in a interview with the Detroit Free Press. “Let’s let the experts do their jobs. Let’s let the fire marshal determine this. There’s a lot of circumstances that go into this. And there’s a lot of engineering that went in the Chevrolet Volt.”
GM's Parks said the company takes "customers' safety extremely seriously," and he also asked for the public to wait for the investigation to conclude before making judgments.
"Fire marshals haven't named any 'suspect' for the cause, so it's wrong to suggest they have," he said online Monday. "Of course, one tweet is another's truth, right?"