Bloomington Fire Dept. prepared for the worst as hundreds of EVs sit at State Farm

Posted on February 7, 2024
Bloomington Fire Public Information Officer Frank Friend visited WJBC’s Afternoon Show. (Photo courtesy: WJBC/File)

By Blake Haas

BLOOMINGTON – A thousand Rivian automotive vehicles are sitting at State Farm Corporate South, and city leaders have a plan in case a fire breaks out.

Thanks to sped-up production, Rivian struck a deal with State Farm to store their brand-new vehicles in State Farm’s parking lot.

To play on the side of safety, Bloomington Fire crafted a plan with State Farm and Rivian in case a fire broke out.

“We have a plan moving forward that if we have something happens out there (State Farm), we will send additional resources right out of the gate,” Bloomington Fire Public Information Officer Frank Friend said on WJBC’s Afternoon Show. “We’re also working with Joe’s Towing a little bit, preliminarily, about possibly a container of some type. (We would) basically put the car in the container and fill it up with water.”

In a statement to WJBC, Rivian automotive addressed why the cars are parked at State Farm.

“Rivian more than doubled production from 2022 to 2023. Amazon does not pick up new delivery vehicles during its peak season when they are focused on customer deliveries, and we needed to utilize offsite parking until the Amazon EDVs are picked up.”

Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].

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