Lithium-ion battery fires on rise in Mass.
50 blazes identified over past 6 months
The state Department of Fire Services has identified 50 lithium-ion battery fires in Massachusetts over the past six months, more than double the annual average documented by a national fire reporting system, the agency said Wednesday.
In October, the state agency said it unveiled a checklist for investigators to collect basic information about fires in which lithium-ion batteries were a factor. The database made clear what officials had long suspected: that lithium-ion batteries were involved in far more fires than what the national system showed.
“We knew anecdotally that lithium-ion batteries were involved in more fires than the existing data suggested,” State Fire Marshal Jon M. Davine said in a statement. “In just the past six months, investigators using this simple checklist have revealed many more incidents than we’ve seen in prior years.”
From 2019 to 2023, an average of 19.4 lithium-ion battery fires were reported each year to the state’s Fire Incident Reporting System, Davine said.
The increase could be linked to the growing number of electronic devices powered by such batteries, increased awareness by local fire investigators, or other factors, officials said. Lithium-ion battery fires were reported in 38 communities over the past six months officials said.
Lithium-ion batteries power everything from small devices such as electronic cigarettes and iPhones to scooters, electric bikes, and electric cars, officials said. If overcharged or overheated, they can erupt in an explosion of toxic gases and flames, officials said.
Nine of the 50 fires involved devices such as scooters, e-bikes, and hoverboards, according to the data. Eight involved laptops and another eight involved cell phones, tablets, or similar devices, officials said. Power tools were involved in six fires. More than half of the devices weren’t charging when they caught fire, officials said.
Water and traditional fire extinguishers are far less effective against lithium-ion battery fires, officials said.
Davine urged people to take a number of precautions, including having working smoke alarms on every level of a home, using only a device’s original batteries and charging equipment as opposed to mixing and matching with chargers for other items, charging batteries from wall outlets rather than extension cords, charging only one device at a time and unplugging them when they’re fully charged, and storing scooters and ebikes outside when possible.
In August, an electric car parked in a driveway in Wareham spontaneously burst into flames, forcing firefighters to douse the charred vehicle with 11,000 gallons of water over three hours. Firefighters put the initial blaze out in a half-hour, but it reignited so they had to keep spraying the car.
“We’ve been going through train
ing on this topic not just for vehicles but because lithiumion batteries are all over now,” Wareham Fire Chief John Kelley said at the time.
He said his firefighters used specially designed hose nozzles for electric vehicles.
The setting was fortuitous, Kelley said, otherwise the incident could’ve been worse.
“This could have been a different story if that vehicle was parked under someone’s home or in their garage. It could have been a lot different,” he said.
In April 2023, a four-alarm fire that displaced four people in Medford was started by two lithium-ion battery-powered scooters, officials said. The following month, six people were displaced when a charging lithium-ion battery ignited a fire in an apartment in New Bedford.