Firefighters, lithium ion battery fire victims share do's and don'ts

SALT LAKE CITY — Several fires across northern Utah sparked by lithium ion battery-powered equipment have kept fire crews busy. Now, they're reminding Utahns how to safely store, use, charge and dispose of these batteries.

Captain Jennifer Bevan, with Unified Fire Authority, said people should know what kind of devices use these batteries. She recommends consumers read the fine print.

"They're in cellphones, they're in computers, e-bikes, scooters," Bevan said. "Use the manufacturer's original equipment. Don't when you can avoid it. Don't use aftermarket parts. Use the original equipment."

UFA recommends people don't use extension cords for charging.

"If you can unwind the extension cord fully and not use it as permanent wiring, that's our biggest recommendation," Bevan said.

She said when you charge your devices, supervise them. They can overheat when they're charged for too long. Bevan said she checks on her own e-scooter every few minutes. Once the charging light turns green, she unplugs it from the wall. She never leaves home with the device plugged in.

"If you're leaving the house, and you're not going to be there or to attend to it, unplug it before you leave," Bevan said.

UFA also recommends inspecting your batteries. If they're damaged, swollen or overheated, don't use them.

"There's four places that you can dispose of these batteries," Bevan said. "Don't ever just throw them in the trash. They can go to the Trans-Jordan landfill, the Salt Lake City landfill, West Jordan Home Depot and the DeWalt factory in Salt Lake City will all accept these batteries for disposal."

A Utah County family knows what kind of damage a lithium ion battery can do when it catches on fire. Tamilisa and Craig Miner were home with their children when a hoverboard charging in their living room burst into flames.

"It just started billowing smoke at first, and I had heard of things exploding and lithium ion batteries exploding, so I knew what was happening, but even knowing what was going on, I just panicked," Tamilisa Miner said.

The batteries caused little fires all over their living room. Craig Miner was able to put out the flames using a fire extinguisher, but it left them with tens of thousands of dollars' worth of damage.

Since that incident, Tamilisa Miner has made it her mission to warn others about the dangers of this equipment.

"After ours exploded, people came out of the woodwork telling me, 'Oh, yeah, our humidifier was in flames, my sister's humidifier was in flames," she said.

The Miners choose to no longer buy toys or devices with this kind of battery.

"Now that we've had this experience, we're like, 'Well, we can't really risk it,'" Craig Miner said.

Their house still stands, and no one was injured, but they won't ever forget how terrifying that was and what could've been lost.

"We had fire extinguishers, but I didn't think of them because I was just thinking, 'How do I get these flames out of my house,'" Tamilisa Miner said.

Today, the Miners have fire extinguishers in nearly every room. They said they do mental drills to practice naming the locations of each one.

They also know what they'd do differently.

"You don't yell names," Tamilisa Miner said. "You yell, 'fire … If I say that word, I'm not kidding, you've got to come."

They tell their friends and neighbors to keep lithium ion batteries away from their house, and don't overcharge them.

"It's like Russian roulette," Tamilisa said. "You just don't know when it's going to explode."

Officials recommend people only buy these batteries that are marked "UL certified." The Miners said their hoverboard had this certification and still exploded.

Tamilisa Miner said there are a lot of caveats to these batteries.

"If you don't charge these batteries enough, then they are also volatile," she said. "After our hoverboard exploded, the Consumer Product Safety Commission called me and had a big, long talk with me about all this."

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