Experts share advice on how to control and prevent battery fires
When lithium-ion batteries catch fire, they burn hot and can spread quickly. Knowing how to prevent this is a safety must.
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – The Golden Triangle Regional Solid Waste Authority will host its yearly Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day on April 26th.
Acceptable materials from residents in Webster, Clay, Lowndes, Choctaw, Oktibbeha, and Noxubee counties are: aerosols, batteries, paint, household cleaners, chlorine, wood finish, automobile fluids, herbicides, rodent poison, oil filters, pesticides, electronic waste, lighter fluids.
Unacceptable materials are: explosives, infectious waste, munitions, radioactive waste, gas canisters, and Freon appliances.
The Golden Triangle Regional Solid Waste Authority reserves the right to refuse any items from being accepted.
Lithium-ion batteries are everywhere.
Phones, laptops, electric scooters, wireless headphones, electric and hybrid vehicles, disposable vapes and so much more.
A good rule of thumb is that if a battery is rechargeable, it is most likely a lithium-ion battery.
While they don’t catch on fire often, when they do it’s bad news said Brian Arnett, the Starkville Fire Department training chief.
“One of the misconceptions is that they catch on fire a lot,” Arnett said. “They don’t catch on fire a lot. The problem is, when they do catch on fire, it’s not a simple solution to stop that fire.”
Most lithium batteries contain multiple cells.
When just one of these cells catches fire, the rest will most likely burn as well.
This process is called thermal runaway Arnett explains.
“Once one catches on fire, it produces enough heat to catch its neighbor on fire, which produces enough heat to catch the next one,” Arnett said. “And so it just starts that chain reaction.”
These fires produce intense heat, meaning they spread quickly.
That added danger makes disposing lithium-ion batteries dangerous said David O’Mary, the Golden Triangle Regional Solid Waste Authority executive director.
“They can leak out and cause a fire in the waste that’s been disposed of,” O’Mary said. “So that’s the danger for us here.”
O’Mary said disposing a lithium battery is easy… take it to Lowes and they will take it for free.
Keeping the chemicals in the batteries out of landfills.
“We just don’t want the acid or any of that stuff into the landfills,” O’Mary said.
Brian Arnett, the Starkville Fire Department training chief said if a battery fire is small water will work.
If it is larger you need to call 911.
“If it’s something small and handheld and you can throw it in a five gallon bucket of water, throw in a five gallon bucket water, get out,” Arnett said. “But something bigger than that. Just immediately get out because your evacuation time is going to be much smaller than what you would imagine.”
Arnett also gave advice on electric or hybrid car fires.
“Get it away,” Arnett said. “Get out. Call 911. Because once you hear a hissing sound or you start seeing smoke or smell in this fruity smell. It’s already entered thermal runaway. It’s already losing its ability to dissipate that heat. And the next thing that’s going to happen is fire.”
Arnett said the simplest way to prevent battery fires is to care for a battery properly.
He said while cheap chargers may work, they can also be dangerous.
“Will it charge it? Yes. Well it potentially cause overheating problem? Yes it will,” Arnett said. “if you have to replace something, replace it from the people that manufactured. Even if it cost more. In the long run, it’s a lot cheaper to pay for that expensive charger than it is to pay for a house fire.”
