This bill creates a new section of law requiring the Washington State Patrol to develop best practices and training for multidisciplinary responses to electric vehicle fires. The State Patrol must consult with the Department of Ecology, local fire protection districts, the towing and recovery industry, and other entities when developing the guidance. At minimum the best practices must address responses by law enforcement, fire agencies, and other first responders to electric vehicles involved in a collision or fire, and guidance on transporting, towing, and storing electric vehicles involved in a collision or fire. The bill also requires the State Patrol, through the director of fire protection, to develop best practice checklists that promote interagency coordination and to make those checklists available to all fire agencies in Washington. The provision is a new law (labeled a new section) and is a procedural change establishing required guidance and checklists; it does not create new crimes or change penalties. Several implementation details are not specified in the extracted text: there is no statutory placement beyond “new section,” no deadlines or timelines for development or publication, no funding or enforcement mechanisms described, “other entities” to be consulted are unspecified, the organizational role or authority of the director of fire protection is not explained, and the means or schedule for distributing or updating the checklists is not provided.

If enacted, the Washington State Patrol will be responsible for creating statewide best practices and checklists that guide law enforcement, fire departments, towing companies, and other first responders on how to respond to electric vehicle collisions and fires and how to tow and store those vehicles. Fire agencies across Washington will receive the checklists, and local fire districts, the Department of Ecology, towing and recovery businesses, and other stakeholders must be consulted during development, so responders will likely have a common reference to improve coordination and decision making in those incidents. Practically, the Patrol and its director of fire protection will absorb the primary workload for drafting the guidance, and local agencies and towing firms may need to change or add procedures and training to match the new guidance, which could create staff time and training costs. The bill does not specify funding, deadlines, enforcement, how updates or distribution will occur, or which other entities must be consulted, so timing, scope of adoption, and financial impacts on agencies and private tow operators are uncertain.