Take precautions when charging lithium batteries

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

Charge into fire safety: Lithium batteries in your home is the theme of this year’s fire prevention week.

“They’re everywhere,” said Geoff Hayman, Tillsonburg’s fire prevention officer.

The theme for the week is broken down into three subcategories: buy, charge and recycle.

Hayman explained there could be a temptation to replace a battery with a lower-priced one found on the Internet, but people should be wary of this temptation. While the lower-priced battery may work, slight differences could result in the unit heating up more than it should.

Charging battery-power devices, from phones to drills to vehicles should be done with the correct charger and shouldn’t be done without providing some sort of ventilation.

“If you’re going to charge a device, you do it in the open and don’t cover it up,” he explained. “When it’s charging and it heats up, you need to have the ability for the heat to dissipate.”

Overcharging can be another issue if a device isn’t manufactured with smart-charging technology that will shut off the charger.

Recycling lithium batteries properly ensures batteries don’t end up in landfill and cause environmental damage.

Lithium battery fires

Tillsonburg Fire Department has responded to four or five fires associated with lithium batteries. Hayman said all were electric bikes where the batteries get tussled and potentially damaged. These fires were caught early and put out relatively quickly.

With the increase in the use of mobility scooters, this is bringing more lithium batteries into these facilities. Hayman said modifications were made in these facilities, explaining, “These are now being charged in areas separated off and protected.”

To date, there hasn’t been a fire with a battery-powered car in Tillsonburg.

“In most cases, they are safe, and if done properly, there’s a benefit to society if charging is done correctly,” he said of lithium batteries.