A fire fighter in central Newfoundland says he dreads to think of what might happen if an electric vehicle catches fire in a confined or crowded space.

Battalion Chief with the Lewisporte Fire Department, Rob Fudge, was part of a crew that battled an electric truck fire on the Trans Canada earlier this month.

Fudge says electric vehicles burn hotter than combustion vehicle fires, not to mention the toxic brew of chemicals they produce.

The truck in question, which was not near a source of water, eventually had to be pushed into a ditch and buried in snow and gravel to finally douse the flames.

Fudge says it took some time and extraordinary measures to get the flames under control.

“If this was in a confined area,” says Fudge, “parked on a parking lot, or around a house, or even worse still, on one of our provincial ferries, you get these vehicles in a confined space like that, there’s a possibility of being a real tragedy.”