Perhaps he is not making sense. Perhaps.
But you say, "Battery fires only require water."
So we have a burning ship in the middle of the ocean, which I suspect is mostly water, and they can't put it out. What's wrong with
this picture? And don't tell me that water is not used to put out fires on ships. Sure, enough water could sink a ship, but it does take a lot. Fire control on ships has used water. Perhaps it is not currently the best answer, but it has been used. They even build and employ boats specifically for doing that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireboatIn WWII tons and tons of water was used to fight fires on Navy ships: sometimes successfully and sometimes not. But it was used.
So, perhaps, just perhaps you are also not making complete sense.
The mixed fuel argument seems to make more sense. There are 25 electric vehicles loaded in a ship with well over 1000 gas and diesel powered ones. So, in all likelihood, more than one thing is burning. But I am not a firefighter, so I don't claim to know.
As for using the words "thermal runaway" to describe this, they are perhaps not the best choice. What happens in those batteries is the fuel and the oxidizer are both present inside the battery. So, once the fire starts, it continues with no need for anything from the outside. It is like a solid fuel rocket engine, fuel and oxidizer are mixed together and only need a source of ignition. Solid fuel rockets can not be turned off like liquid fuel ones can by simply closing a valve or stopping a pump. In fact, when some solid fuel missiles needed to have their thrust terminated, the answer was to blow holes in them to vent the burning gases to the sides instead of out the rear. But the solid fuel just continued to burn until it was ALL exhausted. Same thing happens in the batteries. They just keep burning as long as the chemicals (fuel and oxidizer) are still available.
I got tired of it about four minutes in. It's all speculation, like, "kind of suggests EV thermal runaway", as if that's even a thing.
Then he spouts falsehoods such as EV battery fires, "can not be stopped". They can by applying water. Gasoline fires require foam, because the gasoline floats on water, spreading the flames and making it so much worse. Battery fires only require water.
This guy is a blowhard, with an obvious ax to grind. None of the press reports talk about this being caused by EVs. There were 2,857 cars, including only 25 electric cars. Zero evidence of any cause, including it being started by an EV.
I put John Cadogan in the bit bucket some time ago.