Slightly Off the Mark: Charge Away From Battery Fires

Charge Away From Battery Fires

The theme for 2025's Fire Prevention Week is "Charge Into Fire Safety", which I thought was sending the wrong message. Do you want people to Charge Into Fire anything? I submit that we should be charging out of fire.

It turns out the National Fire Prevention Association is talking about safety when dealing with batteries, specifically lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-Ion Energy, or LIE, as I like to call it, was a huge advance in batteries as long as they don't, oh, burst into flames.

LIE batteries can be recharged and are light, which make them perfect for everything from cell phones to electric vehicles. It's truly amazing technology, and if proper care is taken they're pretty safe. But if they're used incorrectly, or if they get damaged, well ...

Despite all the other issues that divide our nation, I think we can all agree this is bad.

If LIE batteries are damaged--yes, I made that acronym up, and even though to my knowledge nobody's currently lying about them, I'm kind of proud of it. Where was I? Oh: When they're damaged, LIE batteries can undergo something called a thermal runaway, which is pretty much what it sound like. The fire starts, and doesn't want to go out.

Ever.

This is only if they get damaged by, say, throwing your phone across the room, or crashing your electric car.

The fires burn so hot that the stream of a fire hose may not be able to extinguish the fire. The best way to control an electric car fire is to bring in a backhoe, dig a big hole, fill it with water, and shove the car into it. Then wait. This is impractical on your average freeway, so these batteries often burn up completely before they can be extinguished, taking everything around them along the way.

As a firefighter, I can tell you this is very frustrating.

So, what does the NFPA suggest?

First, buy only certified products. Honestly, I have no idea where you'd go to get cheap uncertified LIE batteries, but the good ones should have a stamp from a nationally recognized testing lab.

I wonder how expensive insurance is for those labs that test batteries?

Second, charge your devices safely, using the cords they come with. Not ones out of the box of old cords you have in a cardboard box in the basement. You know you do.

Charge them according to manufacturer's recommendations. They come with your device. Yes, they DO. You just ignore the paperwork. Don't charge things under a pillow or blanket, or your carpet, or your dog, or anything that could allow heat to build up. Unplug it when it's charged. Basically, don't overcharge it, and stop looking at me that way--do as I say.

Common sense, that's all we ask.

Finally, dispose of your batteries--all of your batteries--in a responsible way. "Hey, let's see what happens when we throw this into the campfire!" is not a responsible way.

If you put them in trash or recycling they could get damaged, or insulated from air flow, allowing them to go boom, or at least whoosh. Imagine a burning garbage truck doing an emergency dump in front of your house. You don't want anything, or anyone, doing an emergency dump in front of your house.

On a related note, these batteries don't just give off extreme heat when they burn--they also give off toxic gasses. So if one does start burning, charge away from the fire.

Oh, and one more thing: We're concentrating this year on batteries, but all the other usual fire danger apply. "Be careful" is not a bad rule to live by.