Fred Dennis’s home in Medicine Hat, Alta., was destroyed by fire early last month. He lost his dog and cat in the fire. Dennis said the cause was determined to be a faulty battery in a solar light on his back deck that he had purchased online. “They figured it was a lithium-ion battery,” Dennis told CTV News over the weekend. Then in Toronto, fire officials spoke out following a similar incident on the seventh floor of a high-rise building. “The greatest, fastest-evolving, growing public fire safety risk in the city is lithium-ion battery fires,” said Jim Jessop, Toronto Fire Services Chief. At Total Recycling in Sydney, N.S., the disposal depot on Industrial Drive is one place where people in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) can safely get rid of used lithium-ion batteries from devices like smartphones, tablets, e-bikes and e-scooters. “For the most part, if you handle it properly, you’ll have no issues bringing it back to us when it’s dead,” said Dwayne Lloyd, an employee at the recycling centre. Lloyd has dealt with enough lithium-ion batteries to know that they can burst into flames quickly and can be difficult to extinguish. “They can be quite dangerous if they start to burn,” Lloyd said. “Putting water on them doesn’t put them out. Using most fire extinguishers won’t put them out.” “You never want to charge something beyond 100 per cent,” added Alex Kwan, a public information officer with the Calgary Fire Department. In Calgary, fire crews dealt with three battery-related fires in less than 24 hours. Two of them involved e-scooter batteries that overheated. The department said the most common causes of lithium-ion battery fires include batteries sold online that do not meet Canadian safety standards, damaged or cheap charging cords, improper disposal of batteries and overcharging of devices. “If that battery becomes compromised, it goes into what is called thermo-runaway,” Kwan said. “And that’s where very, very quickly that fire will accelerate and grow.” Lloyd said more people than in the past seem to know you cannot simply throw used batteries into the garbage at home but it’s still worth getting the word out. “More general awareness to the public is always a good thing,” Lloyd said. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
