The Ann Arbor Fire Department is raising community awareness about fires caused by the unsafe use of lithium-ion batteries.
Fire officials have been encouraging fire safety involving lithium-ion batteries after they’ve experienced several close calls related to them.
Ann Arbor Fire Chief Mike Kennedy says fires are most often caused by damaged batteries or using chargers that don’t match the original device. He adds charging batteries in hallways leading outside is particularly dangerous if they happen to ignite.
“If something happens, then they’ve then blocked their means of egress, and they might have go out of a window or we’d have to do a ladder rescue or something like that. So, we really try to encourage people if you’re going to have to charge it, try to charge it somewhere that’s not in your exit path.”
Kennedy says properly disposing of batteries reduces the likelihood of danger.
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