Melbourne family warns of dangers against lithium batteries

And it comes at a time when fire crews in Victoria are responding to nearly one fire a day caused by exploding lithium ion batteries. And for more on this story, we’re joined in studio by Deputy Commissioner Josh Fisher from Fire Rescue Victoria. Good afternoon to you, Josh. Afternoon. How bad is the problem? At the moment, rechargeable lithium ion batteries is a growing and significant concern for fire services worldwide. Why is that happening? Why are we seeing so many more fires at the moment? Look, due to the nature of being rechargeable, there’s a number of risks associated with their use, particularly where they may be overcharged, where they may be damaged or they’ve been dropped in water or some other substance that’s caused them to then fault and go into thermal runaway, which then causes the fire. And the issue is they pop up everywhere, don’t they? We see them from laptops all the way through to power tools. Where do you find, where do you find them? Look, lithium ion rechargeable batteries would be common in nearly every household here in Victoria. They’re, as you said, power tools, rechargeable bikes and scooters. They’re very common in metropolitan Melbourne associated with getting about the city, so they’re very common. They’d be in nearly every house in Victoria. Is there any sort of one particular product where we see more fires occurring than somewhere else? Look, we’re seeing fires associated with scooters and E bikes as well as battery packs resulting from the cause of the fire in Carlton today. They’re sort of the three key things that we’re seeing as long as as well as rechargeable power tools. So how should people be charging these items in a Safeway? Look, we’d ask people to follow the manufacturer’s recommendations as the first step. Always use the branded power charging cord for that battery Power Pack. Consider where you’re charging the batteries as well. So if you’re in a single bedroom apartment, consider charging them away from your path of exit in the event that they go into thermal runway outside of your bedroom if you can help it as well. And particularly try and charge when you’re awake and not overnight. I wanted to ask you, how do you know if you’ve got a dodgy battery or a faulty device? Because I’m guessing there wouldn’t be a lot of warning signs there. Look, there’s a number of signs that could be bulging so the battery pack looks swollen. It could be practical damage. So the casing that the battery is encased in and then the signs of thermal runway. So you might hear popping, it might be hot, you might hear crackling and then you’ll see smoke and gases emitted, then smoke and fire. Is this a standard thing? Are we seeing dodgy products coming into the country or is this just something that we’re probably going to have to live with? Look as lithium ion batteries become more common and adapted for you know most modern living we’re we’re likely to see this continue to increase. It’s not necessarily one type of product it it can be resulting from anything poor manufacturing. It certainly can result in you know batteries going into thermal runway but also the damage that’s associated with everyday use. So hitting striking, you know that general use day-to-day. Just finally for us Josh is regulation the answer here ultimately look we want people to be safe. You know, regulation is ultimately a responsibility for government. We just want people to be safe as they use these devices. Look for the warning signs of when batteries might be damaged and the risks that it might pose in in the event of the fire. It’s a really important issue. Deputy Commissioner Josh Fisher from Fire Rescue Victoria, thank you very much for your time today. Thanks, Dougal.