Couple identified in Bucks County Tesla crash and fire

🔥 A Tesla hit a parked Tesla and a building in Bedminster on Nov. 15

🔥 An intense fire took 8,000 gallons of water to extinguish

🔥 DNA and dental records were used to identify the couple inside the car

BEDMINSTER TOWNSHIP, Pa — An elderly couple has been identified as the victims of a fiery crash involving two Teslas on Nov. 15.

Bedminster police said a Tesla being driven on Easton Road in Bedminster struck another that was parked and unoccupied causing a fire around 11:15 a.m.  Both the passenger and driver were pronounced dead at the scene. Video by NBC Philadelphia showed both vehicles involved were Teslas.

The couple was identified by the Bucks County Coroner's Office as Gerald Lepat, 75, and Deborah Yacovella, 79, both from Upper Black Eddy  DNA testing and forensic dental records had to be used to make the identification.

Point Pleasant Fire Company’s chief Scott Fleischer told the Bucks County Herald it took 8,000 gallons of water to put out the fire because of the Lithium batteries in both Teslas.

One of the Teslas went into a building causing damage.

Lithium batteries take hours to extinguish

The cause of death for both was "multiple injuries," according to the coroner's office. The manner of death was an accident.

Deborah's family asked for donations to the Bucks County SPCA or an animal shelter in their memory.

New Jersey State Fire Marshal Richard Mikutsky, also the director of the New Jersey Division of Fire Safety, said in Mach that lithium batteries burn at very high temperatures and can take hours to put out. The lithium batteries also pose other dangers, such as 400-volt electric shocks, toxic fumes and lithium burns to the skin and respiratory system, according to Mikutsky.

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