Hazards of Lithium-Ion battery usage the focus of “Fire Prevention Week” this year

MASON CITY — It’s Fire Prevention Week, with this year’s theme being “Charge into Fire Safety: Lithium-Ion Batteries in Your Home”. The campaign stresses how important it is to buy, charge and recycle safely when it comes to lithium-ion batteries.

Derek Smit of the Mason City Fire Department says they are encountering lithium-ion batteries  more frequently in things like electronics and handheld tools. “They do pose some unique hazards to us as far as how we are able to extinguish them. They do require significantly higher amount of water to extinguish, and improper storage in charging, and just buying subpar quality lithium-ion batteries has definitely posed a bigger threat to fire safety.”

Smit says not properly charging those batteries leads to issues as well.  “We do run into people overloading circuits a lot, which is something we definitely want to look out for and avoid whenever possible. Having those chargers out of reach of animals, pets, small kids, just so nothing gets damaged, because that can definitely cause an issue in the future.”

To learn more about fire safety during this Fire Prevention Week, click here