Holiday shopping comes with more lithium-ion batteries and for some of them, it’s only a matter of time before they malfunction. NBC 7’s Shandel Menezes has the details you need to know.
Holiday shopping comes with more lithium-ion batteries and for some of them, it’s only a matter of time before they malfunction.
In February last year, a United Airlines passenger's battery pack caught on fire.
“Probably ten minutes into the flight I started to smell something really bad and it just got worse and worse and it was clear that there was a lot of smoke,” said United passenger Anne Marie Buckland.
“The guy next to me, two seats over, started to scream,” said another passenger, Stephen Jones.
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"The guy in first class said ‘oh god’ and put his shirt up over his face. Then I saw a flash of fire and then you see the flight attendants running back and forth with fire extinguishers.”
The fire forced an emergency landing.
Then two months later, a fire injured a man in Barrio Logan after he tried to put it out by pouring water on it, causing the battery to explode.
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“These fires happen very fast,” Robert Rezende, San Diego Fire Rescue Department Battalion Chief said. “You're not going to be able to put them out. So the best thing you can do is get to safety and call 911.”
Rezende said the most important thing to keep in mind as you are shopping for batteries is making sure it’s been tested by a nationally-recognized testing lab. He's seen these fires multiply in recent years, peaking in 2020.
“The number of lithium-ion batteries manufactured per year started to go up because of that increase in volume. The prices of the batteries started to come down, and so more people had more access," Rezende said.
With those gadgets, especially those electric bikes and scooters, resist the convenient temptation to charge them near the door when you come in the house.
“If it's in the way of your exit way and it catches fire in the middle of the night, now you can't get out,” he said. “If I get a power drill tool that has a battery on it and I'm going to charge it in the garage, but what's around it? Do I have my gas cans near it? Do I have my rags near it? Probably not a good idea.”
All of this considered, he feels there’s still more pros than cons when it comes to these batteries so long as you make the right choices and stay consistent with them.
If your batteries are swollen, smell funny or are emitting any heat, these are signs it’s time to recycle them properly. Do not throw them in the trash.
