Car fire caused by EV battery shuts down northbound 280 in Daly City

DALY CITY, Calif. (KGO) -- An electric car battery fire that engulfed a vehicle early Tuesday morning shut down northbound I-280 for hours in Daly City.

The highway is fully shut down at Hickey Blvd.

Crews responded to reports of a car that was smoking around 5:30 a.m. That's when they discovered an electric car battery was on fire.

One person was able to get out of the vehicle and are they are doing OK.

Captain Jeff Higgins with North County Fire Authroity says the car then went into "thermal runaway," which is when water will not put out the fire. Crews then backed away, focused on protecting from the fire spreading, and had to wait for the fire to burn off.

"When we first arrived, it was a ball of flame, it was a fireworks show basically with everything coming off of it," Captain Higgins said.

The southbound side was shut down earlier, but those lanes are now open.

Vehicles going northbound are exiting off Hickey and are making their way back onto 280 by taking Serramonte.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Stay with ABC7 News for updates on this developing story.