The Phelps’ donated a Turtle Fire System, which is designed to combat car fires, especially in EV vehicles, but has many other specialized uses in firefighting.

The fire system is a small device, which can be attached to the fire hose and slid under a vehicle. It creates a 100-pound psi water pressure, creating a water curtain directly beneath the fire. The Turtle Fire System, LLC created the device “to address the growing concern of electric vehicle fires.”

However, the company website states, there are several other uses for the Turtle. Uses include “mitigating EV fires long enough to rescue the occupant, cooling flammable liquid and fuel tanks, basement fires, deep seated fires in hard to reach areas, and Hazmat incidents.”

Terry Phelps, who was a firefighter and EMS captain for many years and is now retired, said his curiosity led him to research EV firefighting devices. “So I started to look for information on how to put out a car fire and I found this one,” he said. “There are other devices that are more complicated but with this one, all you have to do is hook a hose to it.”

Findley Lake Fire Department chief Jack Hamilton and former firefighter Terry Phelps hold the Turtle Fire System device that Phelps has donated to the department

Phelps said he did a presentation for the Findley Lake Fire Department, in which he showed them a video of the device at work. “I said, ‘You guys will love it’ and I told them I would pay for it,” he said. “I showed them the video and they said they would take it.”

Phelps donated the mini-Turtle, which connects to a 1¾-inch hose and costs $2,700. He noted the standard Turtle will take a 2-inch hose and is priced at $3,200.

In his time as a firefighter, Phelps said he experienced about a dozen car fires. “They are getting more common now because everything is electronic,” he said. “I thought it was something nice to do for the fire department and I talked it over with my wife and she agreed.”

Phelps said, like so many volunteer fire departments, Findley Lake struggles to have enough volunteers to face every situation. “It’s something they can use,” he said. “They are short on firefighters.”