• Posted March 3, 2025

Electric Vehicle Fires May Raise Cancer Risk for Communities

As electric vehicles (EVs) become more common on roads, they bring new health concerns for firefighters and the community, new research shows.

Researchers at the University of Miami's Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center found that EV fires expose firefighters, vehicle owners and community residents to dangerous, heavy metals.

“While all fires pose exposure risks, EV fires elevate the risk to firefighters, owners and the nearby community because they are powered by massive batteries containing high concentrations of heavy metals,” Dr. Alberto Caban-Martinez, deputy director of Sylvester’s Firefighter Cancer Initiative (FCI), said in a news release. “Many of these metals are associated with increased cancer risk due to their potential to cause DNA damage, oxidative stress and genetic alterations.”

Batteries used in EVs contain several metals that may cause cancer, such as:

• Arsenic: Linked to lung, bladder, skin, liver and kidney cancers

• Cadmium: Linked to lung, prostate, kidney, pancreatic and breast cancers

• Chromium: Linked to lung, nasal and sinus cancers

• Nickel: Linked to lung, nasal and laryngeal cancers

• Lead: Linked to brain, kidney, stomach and lung cancers

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health notes that firefighters already have a 9% higher risk of developing cancer and a 14% higher risk of dying from cancer than the general population.

In response, Sylvester launched its firefighter cancer program in 2015.

“There’s a recognition at Sylvester that we have the scientific and clinical expertise, and firefighters have the day-to-day occupational expertise. If we want to ask the right questions and get the best answers, we need to incorporate their perspectives and insights into what we do. That partnership is saving lives, and it will continue to save lives,” Erin Kobetz, director and principal investigator of the FCI, said in a news release.

As part of the first-ever case study focused on EV fires, researchers staged a controlled EV fire to monitor air and environmental contamination. They found:

• EV battery fires burn much hotter than regular car fires.

• Exploding EV batteries can send projectiles flying up to 40 feet.

• Extinguishing an EV fire can require up to 30,000 gallons of water, while a typical car fire requires about 750 gallons of water to extinguish.

• Levels of cancer-causing chemicals, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), increased in the ground around the vehicle after the fire.

As such, researchers emphasized that decontamination efforts are crucial after EV fires to reduce the cancer risk to firefighters and anyone nearby.

“If we do our research correctly in line with our mission,” Caban-Martinez said. “We can reduce the cancer burden for current and future firefighters and the communities they serve.”

More information

The National Human Genome Research Institute has more on carcinogens.

SOURCE: Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, news release, Feb. 27, 2025