National Fire Prevention Week and lithium-ion battery safety

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – This week is National Fire Prevention Week and Zanesville’s local fire department has some tips to stay safe.

This year’s theme is “Charge into Fire Safety: Lithium-Ion Batteries in Your Home,” focusing on tips to prevent fires caused by the commonly used rechargeable batteries. Some tips offered by firefighter and paramedic Matt Salmons includes using charging chords that aren’t frayed, charge devices on hard surfaces as opposed to on your couch or bed, and properly recycle batteries when disposing of them at locations that you can find at Call2Recycle.org.

“So we do see a lot more use of lithium-ion batteries. I don’t know that we have any particular fires that are connected to them but they’re in everything now a days. Your smart phones, e-bikes are becoming bigger, scooters, all the different home hand tools,” Salmons said. “The big thing with lithium-ion batteries fires is it takes a lot of water to extinguish. It’s not just you’ll put it out, they’ll continue burn and off-cast so it does cause a bigger challenge for us. ”

For local fire fighters, Fire Prevention Week involves more than covering the theme of battery safety and includes getting out into the community to teach more broad fire safety and prevention.

“With Fire Prevention Week going on we are spending a lot of time in different local schools and preschools talking to the kids about fire safety, giving them a demonstration of what we look like in gear, showing them the fire trucks and sending information home with them. That is something we offer year round but more this week,” Salmons said.

You can learn more about Fire Prevention Week and tips to stay safe by visiting the Fire Prevention Week website.