The Normal Fire Department responded just after 9 PM last Friday due to a fire with a Rivian vehicle on a car lift. According to NFD Chief Mick Humer, the assembly lines sprinkler system extinguished the flames before the arrival of the Fire Department. The building fire alarm was sounded and workers were evacuated with no injuries registered.
The sprinkler system did exactly what it was supposed to do – put water on the fire quickly and prevent it from spreading until the fire department arrived to finish the job.” Swaney added. “Most importantly, the damage was limited to just the one vehicle, and everyone was able to get out of the building safely.
Matt Swaney, the FND Spokesman
According to NFD, the Bloomington Fire Department was called initially to assist due to the size of the building. At the same time, off-duty Normal firefighters staffed stations and managed calls elsewhere in town during the incident.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, and there is no damage estimate available.
Recently, Rivian said it expects to soon be delivering as many as 200 electric R1T pickup trucks per week – quadrupling its production rate from where it was some weeks ago, and putting it on track to surpass 10,000 pickups manufactured this year.
Last December, the company recently announced that COO (Chief operating officer) departed from the company Rivian Automotive, Inc. produced 1,015 vehicles by the end of 2021. 920 vehicles were delivered by that date. The company had warned last month that would likely fall a few hundred short of its goal to build 1,200 vehicles last year.