No Handle, No Escape

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In this line of work, it’s clear that what you don’t know can kill you. Dialing 911 not only gets help on the way, but when functioning at its best, it’s an instant connection to the instructions that can save your life. 

Fortunately, the Fire Priority Dispatch System^™ (FPDS^®) is designed, tested, and proven to provide the detailed instructions a caller couldn’t have envisioned needing. That’s especially true of the latest instructions added in the Fire v8.3 Spring Release to guide a caller entrapped (sometimes in a flame-filled vehicle) with no known escape due to compromised or potentially failing electronic door opening mechanisms. 

The International Academies of Emergency Dispatch^® (IAED^™) has studied several of these incidents, observing a connection to primarily electric vehicles (EVs), though this electronic component failure may not be limited to EVs (data collection still in progress). 

Notably, almost all EVs and higher-end internal combustion engine vehicles have an electronic method for latching and unlatching the doors. In some of these vehicles, the outside door handle is inset until the key fob triggers the handle to pop up—a slick feature that increases their aerodynamic build and has an aesthetically pleasing design. Yet it’s important to understand that the primary method of latching, unlatching, and opening the door is not operated by a cable or any mechanical means inside or outside the vehicle—it’s all electrical. 

Danger in the details 

Though seen as a high-tech detail and a convenience feature, this design presents dangerous challenges if there is a problem with the vehicle’s electrical system or, in the case of an EV, if the 12-volt battery is compromised by a collision. A resulting fire is an entrapment disaster of a whole other scale. 

Though we may picture flames and smoke as the greatest threat to the individual(s) trapped inside, there are additional factors such as toxic gases that build from burning synthetic materials and from the lithium-ion battery itself, including carbon monoxide. The heat produced can also be fatal, as a vehicle fire can burn at up to 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit with an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle. 

In the case of an EV, this rises to up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit with flame extension of 10 feet to 15 feet or more, launching projectile debris, causing combustion of nearby materials, and igniting nearby vehicles or structures.¹ In the case of electric vehicles, there is an added factor of “thermal runaway” from a damaged or defective lithium-ion battery. This can cause the vehicle to reignite from “stranded energy,” sometimes reoccurring days and possibly even weeks after the incident. 

The panic of being trapped in this situation is overwhelming and warranted. Unfortunately, often a bystander cannot access the vehicle’s handle or pull from the outside if the electrical system is compromised, compounding the prevention of the occupant’s escape. 

Unknown to many owners (and drivers), these vehicles all have a manual override to open the door, but the alternate access is not always obvious unless purposely identified while studying a vehicle user manual, and the location and function of this override can vary widely among different makes and models. 

Recent scenarios 

Unfortunately, real-life incidents prove how this scenario can tragically play out. 

• On November 27, 2024, in Piedmont, California (USA), four former high school friends on a college break had a collision with a tree in their Tesla Cybertruck just after 3 a.m. The vehicle caught fire almost instantly. Another friend following their vehicle tried to open the door, with no success. He began hitting the front window until the glass broke, managing to pull one occupant to safety, though he could not reach the other three vehicle occupants, leading to their trapped deaths.² 

• At 1 a.m. on Oct. 29, 2025, a 20-year-old man named Samuel Tremblett was driving a 2021 Tesla Model Y in Easton, Massachusetts (USA), when he veered across the southbound lane of Route 138 and crashed into a tree, trapping him in a burning car. Tremblett called 911, saying, “I’m stuck in a car crash … I can’t get out, please help me … I can’t breathe,” and “It’s on fire, it’s on fire. Help please … I am going to die … I’m dying.” Though he had survived the initial impact, Tremblett died due to his “catastrophic thermal and smoke inhalation injuries.” Though police officers arrived quickly, the flames were beyond control, with four explosions happening in the first 10 minutes; it took four hours to put out the inferno. Tremblett was trapped inside the back seat.³ 

New instructions 

As Mike Thompson, IAED Fire Protocol, Academics, and Standards Expert, studied these and other cases, he felt a profound urgency to provide better instructions for callers in these situations, though he was up against a few hurdles. 

“It’s a multifaceted problem,” Thompson said. “We knew we had to tell trapped callers about the override method in their vehicles, but there’s a long list of various types of buttons and latches and their locations, depending on the vehicle’s make and model.” 

With research, protocol developers looked for commonalities that could be used to form universal instructions to add to Protocol V: Vehicle on Fire (Caller inside). For instance, the EPD can instruct the caller to use their body weight, double push the door button, and/or pull the latch beyond its normal function once or twice.

Though Thompson doesn’t consider the new protocol instructions as infallible or perfect solutions for every incident, they do provide the caller with possibilities to try as the situation becomes more desperate—as air becomes limited and heat becomes debilitating. 

“We instruct the caller to try to roll down the window right away,” Thompson said. “But we have to weigh the time it takes to use these escape methods versus others. If they can, we instruct them to go out of a sunroof or to shatter a window— though a vehicle with laminated side glass can effectively withstand significant blunt force to prevent escape, much to the caller’s detriment in this situation.” 

The goal is to give EFDs as many tools as possible to answer a desperate plea on the line. 

“Being in that situation is extremely bad, but comparatively, listening as an EFD and trying to help them without the tools to do so is, without a doubt, shared trauma,” Thompson said. “Both situations are awful.”

Conclusion 

As technical and mechanical solutions for entrapment and electrical failures are under scrutiny and development, the protocol is ready to roll out to help in the interim. “We want to get this message out there to people because this is something you may never think about,” Thompson said. “Even some people in the fire and rescue industry may not be immediately aware of these complications and the consequences they carry.” 

Sources 

1. “Motor Vehicle Fires.” Fairfield Ohio. fairfield-city.org/341/Motor-Vehicle-Fires (accessed April 1, 2026). 

2. Phillipp, C. “Tesla's Electronic Door System Prevented Teen from Escaping Fiery Cybertruck Crash That Killed 3 Others, Lawsuit Claims.” People. 2026; March 22. people.com/teslas-electronic-doors-prevented-teens-fiery-cybertruck-crash-escape-lawsuit-11930725 (accessed April 1, 2026). 

3. Herzlich, T. “Tesla driver’s devastating 911 call while stuck in fiery car revealed: ‘Help please … I am going to die’.” New York Post. 2026; Feb. 6. https://nypost.com/2026/02/06/business/tesla-drivers-devastating-911-call-while-stuck-in-fiery-car-revealed-help-please-i-am-going-to-die/ (accessed April 1, 2026)