BATON ROUGE - East Baton Rouge Parish firefighters are now able to use large fire blankets designed to suffocate electric vehicle fires in a matter of seconds.

The blankets are similar to the ones firefighters were seen using to extinguish the cyber truck fire outside the Trump Tower in Las Vegas on New Year's Day. 

The following departments received the blankets:
- Baton Rouge Fire Department
- Pride Fire Department
- Baker Fire Department
- Central Fire Department
- Chaneyville Fire Department
- District 6 Fire Department
- Brownsfield Fire Department
- Zachary Fire Department
- East Side Fire Department

Nine fire departments across the parish received the blankets to help decrease the amount of time it takes to put out a fire in an electric vehicle. 

With the rise of EV purchases across the country, fire response has also been changing. Firefighters are having to leave old practices of using water to put out these fires.

The Baton Rouge Fire Department said EV fires can burn hotter, last longer, reignite even after being extinguished and release toxic gases. The blankets are designed to smother fires by cutting off the oxygen supply and containing flames. 

"The fire service is changing daily, with the higher temperatures and what's happening when they combust, it's more dangerous to our firefighters and we want to make sure our firefighters are well prepared, equipped and trained to handle this," Baton Rouge Fire Chief Michael Kimble said.

The parish received 10 of these blankets, each costing around $1,500, with the help of a donation by Baton Rouge resident Daniel Miremont.