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.

 For more, but less funny information:  https://www.nfpa.org/events/fire-prevention-week

 

 

 Here's some trivia: There are fires, or at least the appearance of emergency services, in almost all of our books. Check them out here:

  

·        Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

·        Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

·        Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

·        Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

·        Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

·        Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

·        Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

·        Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

·        Substack:  https://substack.com/@markrhunter

·        Tumblr:  https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

·        Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

·        Audible:  https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

 

Remember: Uncontrolled fires are way more fun in books than they are in real life.

 

Give a Smoke Detector a Job

 The theme for this year's Fire Prevention Weeks is "Smoke alarms: Make them work for you". Which sound like a great idea, but then you have to pay them, and send W-2 forms, and it would mess up your taxes ...

In any case, here's the link to the National Fire Prevention Association's info on the subject:

https://www.nfpa.org/events/fire-prevention-week

  During my four decades in the emergency services, I never heard anyone complain that their smoke detectors worked properly. Well, okay, once—but that guy was an arsonist.

Fire Prevention Week this year is October 6-12, mostly because nothing else goes on in mid-October. No, actually it was because the Great Chicago Fire happened on October 9, 1871. That fire destroyed more than 17,400 structures and killed at least 250 people, and might have been prevented if Mrs. O’Leary had installed a smoke detector in her barn. Have you ever seen a cow remove a smoke detector battery? Me neither.

Nobody really knows what started the Great Chicago Fire, so the dairy industry has a real beef with blaming the cow, which legend says knocked over a lamp. Does the lamp industry ever get the blame? Noooo....

Cow or lamp? Trick question: It's a training session, so firefighters.

 

At about the same time the Peshtigo Fire burned across Wisconsin, killing 1,152 people and burning 16 entire towns. Several fires burned across Michigan and Wisconsin at the time, causing some to speculate that a meteor shower might have caused the conflagration. There may have been shooting stars elsewhere, but Chicago got all the press.

This year’s Fire Prevention Week theme is "Smoke alarms: Make them work for you!" It's not like they're going to be busy elsewhere.

Just as you should change your smoke detector batteries every fall and spring, you should replace your smoke alarm every ten years. Doing the same to your carbon monoxide detector is a great idea, so it can make a sound to warn about the gas that never makes a sound.

This is great advice, and as I hadn’t given much thought to the age of my own smoke detectors, I took it. The one in the basement stairway said: “Manufactured 1888 by the Tesla Fire Alarm Co.”

Not a good sign.

The one in the kitchen hallway said simply: “Smoke alarm. Patent pending.”

Oh boy.

So check them. Do it right now, so they're working for you. I know it doesn’t have quite the pizzazz of the 1942 Fire Prevention Week theme: “Every Fire Helps Hitler”.

But hey … you can’t blame the Nazis for everything.

 

 

We and our books can be found ... everywhere:

·        Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

·        Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

·        Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

·        Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

·        Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

·        Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

·        Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

·        Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

·        Substack:  https://substack.com/@markrhunter

·        Tumblr:  https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

·        Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

Remember: Books are flammable, so keep them protected. Especially our books.

My Fractured History Of Firefighting

 

As we close out the 100^th anniversary of Nation Fire Prevention Week, I thought I’d take a quick look at the history of firefighting.

You might want to brace yourself, we’ll be moving fast.

Fire was discovered by Adam, who was kicked out of the Garden of Edan because of an apple—making it the first core-pral punishment. It gets darned cold in the real world, but Adam could only find one stick, so he made a fire by rubbing it against a Cain. This led to emotional problems with Cain later on; he tried to cope, but wasn’t Abel.

Ancient Egyptians experienced fire problems when a column of fire led the Jews out of bondage. The Jews were followed by the Pharaoh and his army, who were sore about being plagued. Pharaoh then took his army to the Red Sea, figuring it would water down the flame.

The soldiers drowned, much to the sorrow of their mummies. The Pharaoh himself was unusually tall, and waded back to shore: To this day, when someone measures the intensity of fire, they speak of degrees in Pharaoh Height.

The Roman Empire invented the first fire extinguisher, which looked like a big syringe. Their first firefighters were slaves, and when the syringe wasn’t effective they were just thrown on the flames until the fire was smothered. Everyone was satisfied with this arrangement. Except the slaves.

Benjamin Franklin helped found the earliest organized fire force in the New World. He also flew kites in thunderstorms, thumbed his nose at the most powerful empire in the world, and had indiscriminate sex with dozens of women. And so, to this day, firefighters are assumed to be crazy.

(It turns out Franklin was literally a founding father.)

Albion's hose reel worked better when it had hose on it.

Fast forward (a lot) to Albion in 1887. When a major fire burned down an entire block, townspeople were disturbed to learn they couldn’t find a decent cup of coffee: All the restaurants had cooked. After a week without java the townspeople voted to fund either a fire department, or a coffee house. If the vote had gone the other way, we’d be forming coffee cup brigades.

The Albion Fire Department consisted of a chief, an assistant chief, three foremen, a designated Coffee Rescue Team (they just couldn’t get over the infamous “Week Without a Cup”)—and the entire population. It took a dozen people to pump the water by hand, and another dozen to make the coffee. In an emergency the coffee would be pumped onto the fire, if they felt they had the grounds.

When volunteers ran (literally) to their first call they found they had no hose, which watered down their effectiveness. Luckily, it was only the courthouse burning, not the coffee house. Just the same, they added a hose cart to go with the pumper. Today’s fire trucks carry pumps and hose together, along with modern marvels such as instant coffee.

The third original AFD apparatus, a hook & ladder, carried hooks .., and ladders. The hooks could be used to pull down flaming roofs, walls, and Pharaohs. The ladders were used to rescue sacks of coffee. (No Pharaoh was harmed in the writing of this article.)

The AFD became motorized in 1929, and still owns that very first truck. We’re that cheap.

The '29 still pumps! Just in case.

On spotting a fire citizens would say something descriptive, like “fire!” and, being firefighters, the firefighters faithfully fought the fire’s fury. Rural homes were on their own, being out of shouting range. But firefighters hate to see fire without putting water on it; families have been torn apart at cookouts, after someone starts the grill, and a firefighter relative throws all the beer on it. So the AFD bought a water tanker, allowing them to haul their own supply. Of water, not beer.

Other changes came quickly. With four wheel drive trucks, firefighters didn’t have to wait for a wildland fire to come to them, especially since it sometimes didn’t want to. Besides, while they were waiting some other moron with a match … ahem … another wildland fire might break out.

Air packs were developed so firefighters can go into toxic atmospheres and keep their lungs healthy, so they didn’t have to give up smoking.

And then: I was born.

This is the most flattering photo I could find of myself on the fireground.

This is not a date ordinarily observed at our firehouse. No, I don’t know why.

Back then we didn’t wear our protective clothing much. In fact, when I responded to my first house fire I’d been issued: boots. Just boots.

Well, I wore jeans and a t-shirt, let’s not get silly.

            Today we’re covered head to toe in materials developed for really dangerous professions, like astronauts and talk show hosts. The air tanks are so light, we sometimes forget to take them off. Imagine the strange looks we get in the grocery store checkout lane.

Who knows what’s in store for the future? Maybe we’ll have cameras that can see through smoke, lightweight air tanks, computers, and portable radios we can just clip on our belts. Oh, wait … we have those.

But we’ll keep the old ’29 engine. Just in case.

 Find our books at:

http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

And check out the Albion Fire Department's history in Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights: A Century Or So With the Albion Fire Department.