Harlingen firefighters encountered a fire that burns hotter and longer than traditional vehicle fires.

On Tuesday, crews with the Harlingen Fire Department responded to a Cybertruck that caught on fire after crashing into a fire hydrant.

“This is the first in Harlingen that I’m aware of,” Harlingen Fire Chief Rafael Balderas said. “It's not like a normal car fire. This one happened to hit a hydrant, and it broke loose the battery pack, and it became on fire. It’s known nowadays that these fires take a lot of water to turn off."

The chief says the fire did not start because of contact with water from the fire hydrant, but because the crash damaged the vehicle's battery pack. That damage started a fire that is challenging to put out.

"A regular car fire, you're there and you extinguish it within five, 10 minutes — you pour water on it, and it’s over,” Balderas said. “In this particular case, the burning is so much hotter from the batteries that it's going to take more water to cool it down."

Electric vehicle use is growing in Texas.

According to the Texas Department of Transportation, the state’s number of registered electric vehicles tripled from 2020 to 2023.

The state projects more electric vehicles will be on the road in the future, and fire departments are thinking about how to respond to battery fires.

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