Officials sound alarm over rise of lithium-ion battery fires

Officials are warning about the dangers posed by lithium-ion batteries after a rise in fires. The batteries are commonly found in phones, bikes and electric cars. NBC’s Vicky Nguyen reports on what you need to know to use them safely.

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#battery #safety #fire

[bloodorangemoon]

That woman pushed that baby aside and got in front of her to get away from the fire....Who is this lady? She didn't even reach back to pull the kid with her? Just complete disregard for the kid....and the report said nothing about that, meanwhile my jaw is on the floor 🤯

[LeadStarDude]

Let me give you some old school advice. If you must leave a charging battery unattended, make sure it's charging at the lowest amperage possible. 2 amp max. This is true for traditional batteries, and is still true for modern lithium batteries. Yes newer batteries are more capable of handling a fast charge, but it is still potentially dangerous. Only use fast charging if you are needing a partial charge quickly, and if you can be there to keep an eye on it. Otherwise prevent battery overheating via low amperage trickle charging.

[_AA]

This happened to me from a taser gun that I purchased from online. I had it for only 3 months and kept it plugged in for when I would need it to walk my dog after work "winter time" and it's dark out. I was awakened by my dog barking and growling in the kitchen and then my smoke detectors went off! I got up and could immediately smell burning wires, plastic and a weird smell of electricity, as soon as I got to my kitchen and turned on the light, the taser gun that was plugged in starting hissing loudly and sparking!

I grabbed my kitchen towels and knocked it from the wall, grabbed it with the towels and threw it inside my oven and closed the door, because I didn't have time to make it to the back door and throw it outside.

It exploded inside the oven and kept on burning even without there being any oxygen left inside the oven. The way it was burning and the white hot color it gave off, I knew I couldn't open the door and use baking powder or a fire extinguisher.

I had to call the fire department for them to come out and help me. That is when I learned the dangers of these lithium batteries and now I NEVER- EVER leave anything that is chargeable plugged in that's not attended!... I hope this helps someone else out there, I definitely learned my lesson and could have lost my home, my dog and my life, ironically from a chargeable device designed to protect my life & safety!...

[megannoe]

My neighbor is one of those lithium battery deaths from our apartment fire. My fiance and I lived next door, the explosion happened behind my head at 1 a.m. while in bed and his scooter battery was being charged by his front door entry way but it was my bedroom wall. 320 Grafton Ave in Dayton Ohio. The explosion blew his front door off the hinges and the fire was in the hall so we couldn't get out our door and we lived on the 3rd story with a concrete parking lot outside our windows. Thank God firefighters made it within minutes because we had to be rescued by the latter. My neighbor Dale had dementia and he was found by the door and his husband survived. I'll never underestimate fire and I have severe PTSD from that night. Smh.

[LanaDelGato]

*slowly unplugs my lithium ion battery-powered speaker that i normally leave just plugged in for convenience* 😳

[LovingSocialDistance]

Not only did the child get pushed out of the way by the adult, she had to save herself!!??

[tmilesffl]

It's not just the fire, but the chemicals associated with lithium batteries and the deadly gas that is put off by the burning. Manufacturers and government rushed too quick to something they thought was the answer but have created a more lethal problem that will cause environmental issues for many decades to come.

[verynice]

me: literally sleeps beside a full stack of lithium batteries for my vape and portable fan ☠️

[robertfergusson]

This is why newer systems should have charge indicators connected to limiters. The charge hits a certain level, the charge detector sends a single, the limiter cuts power off and requires manual action to reset.

[shayalynn]

I seriously hope that child is ok and doesn’t have second to third degree burns 😕

[xaviersavedra]

Batteries exploding with enough energy to litterally throw you is scary

[Acoustic_Theory]

"Wait, aren't these batteries also in our cars?" "Shhhh, thou shalt not question the EV inquisition"

[Albopepper]

That's why lithium iron phosphate batteries are superior. LiFePO4 use a safer chemistry which is not prone to overheating to dangerous levels. It's important to understand this advantage when shopping for portable power stations as backup power sources in the home.

[CytotoxinK]

My friend once rented from a guy in New York who used his apartment as a conduit/relay for shipping "used" electronics. My friend didn't ask any questions because the rent was dirt cheap in comparison to the surrounding community (cash under the table; the landlord freaked out when he tried to pay him in check one day).

Then the landlord started shipping bulk quantities of lithium ion batteries through his place and he bolted; he said he didn't like sleeping next to a pile of napalm and grenades LOL

[MakeAmericaGreatFasho]

People don't believe it can happen until it happens to them. Never happened to me but Im always very careful with my vapes, hoverboards and even my phone, anything that uses lithium ion batteries has the potential for fires and explosions. It's really hard to put out these fires too, just look up how much harder it is to put out an electric vehicle fire than a regular gas car fire.

[acote]

My cousin is a volunteer firefighter in Kansas. He said they have had 3 or 4 fires at their dump last year, caused by lithium batteries

[jasikanicole]

Lol, this proves nothing. They intentionally removed the safety feature so the battery would fail. 99.9% of the time, safety mechanism would kick in and short circuit first before it even gets over loaded. If you are going to use this a way to fear monger the battery technologies, you are absolutely doing a poor job. One could easily say that your electrical system in your home could easily fail as well if you take away the safety feature. If you take away the circuit breaker in your home, any electronics could have easily done something similar. One could easily say that your refrigerator is combustible if the compression safety feature is remove causing infinite compression until it becomes literally an IED.

[shena]

I really hope that's not that womans baby the way she saved herself and not the baby. 😡

[asha]

So the woman pushed the child into the bike and rushed out the door. She could’ve picked the baby up. Was that her mother? My goodness. Poor baby.

[mexicanpepelife]

Imagine that happening during a flight