Another 787 electrical/smoke incident (on ground)

[cwatters]

I also thought water would be bad for a lithium battery fire but ...

The CAA tested water based fire extinguishers on lithium battery fires...

http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/capap2003_04.pdf

They say water works ok.

and in the marine environment...

Lithium Batteries and Marine Seismic

They say..

"There is an industry misconception on the use of water to fight or prevent Lithium fires.

1. Water has better extinguishing properties on burning Lithium batteries
2. Water will cool down the battery and the surrounding batteries preventing an escalation
3. Water can be applied from a safer distance
4. Water is readily available
5. Our batteries are hermetically sealed and direct contact with lithium metal is not possible on intact batteries

Bit concerned about that last bit. Is it possible that water is fine initially but not ok after the battery has burned for awhile and damaged it's casing?