The fire service is warning homeowners to take extra precautions with lithium-ion batteries after investigations into a fire that destroyed a Stoke house last week showed it was started by “thermal runaway” in the batteries.
Lesley and Leslie Morris lost their Arapiki Rd home last Friday after a fire that started in the garage razed the three-storey building. Nelson fire service specialist fire investigator Craig Piner confirmed on Tuesday that the fire appeared to be started by the failure of lithium-ion batteries.
“I haven’t finished the investigation yet but, at this stage, it’s looking like charging batteries was the issue,” Craig says. “There’s been a few house fires caused by these batteries so it’s not that uncommon.
“The lithium batteries can fail and you get a thing called thermal runaway where they get very hot and produce an intense heat and flames. It looks like that’s what happened last week.”
Craig says lithium-ion batteries are becoming increasingly popular but warned that they must be handled carefully because of their potential fire risk. He also advised to purchase good quality lithium ion batteries to minimise the risk of thermal runaway.
“There are lots of different versions of these batteries but the ones they had were good quality and they had a good charger too – these things just happen.”
Craig says people should take a number of precautions when handling lithium-ion batteries including charging them in a fire-proof container and not over-charging the batteries. It was also critical to dispose of damaged batteries.
“It can happen with cellphone batteries. People drop their phone and damage the battery and it fails and starts producing heat.”
The New Zealand Fire Service advises that it is important to use the correct charger and never leaving charging batteries unattended. It also warns against leaving batteries inside a car on a hot day or any other place where temperature may exceed 60 degrees Celsius and putting loose batteries in a pocket, bag, drawer or on metal surfaces where they could short-circuit against other items.
