Report titled: An electric car fire is like 'a trick birthday candle' — and a nightmare for firefighters    Click Here  

Quotes:   "It’s the kind of blaze that veteran Chief Palmer Buck of The Woodlands Township Fire Department in suburban Houston compared to “a trick birthday candle. . . . firefighters ultimately spent seven hours putting out the fire. They also used up 28,000 gallons of water — an amount the department normally uses in a month. That same volume of water serves an average American home for nearly two years.   By comparison, a typical fire involving an internal combustion car can often be quickly put out with approximately 300 gallons of water."

Seems that lithium battery pack kept re-igniting itself for all those hours, until finally burning itself out.  Consuming itself.  

Federal guidelines have extended cautions to fire fighters, but many jurisdictions have lacked training for this exceptional hazard.