DC fire officials urge precaution to prevent lithium-ion battery fires

Fire officials are warning people to take precautions after yet another lithium-ion battery started a fire Thursday night in D.C. They’re in scooters, skateboards, bicycles and cars, and we’re seeing more cases of lithium-ion batteries igniting. “We find that most incidents involving these batteries take place when they are being charged,” said DC Fire and EMS spokesperson Vito Maggiolo. He said that was the case Thursday night when an electric skateboard caught fire in a Northwest D.C. apartment building. “The batteries had gone into thermal runaway, which means they heat up rapidly. They ignite explosively. They create a tremendous amount of smoke,” Maggiolo said. He says once lithium-ion batteries go into thermal runaway they can reignite sometimes many hours later. That’s why the hazmat unit was called. “They came in. They put it in an over-packing device. They covered it with a material and they took it away to be properly disposed of,” Maggiolo said. Other fires have caused problems recently including at Dulles Airport in August last year, where a lithium-ion battery in a police segway started a fire inside the airport. In December 2023, a house fire in Sandy Spring, Maryland was caused by a charging lithium-ion battery in the garage. “Don’t charge these things at night, overnight, just leave them charging on. Never put them in a place where if they do ignite, they’re going to keep you from getting out of your home safely.” Maggiolo said to only use the manufacturer’s charging cables. Stop using your device if the battery starts to emit an odor or you notice fluids leaking out, if there’s a change in color, if it’s hot to the touch, or if it starts making odd noises.