My son is a firefighter/Paramedic down here in Florida. We talked yesterday and I asked him what to do if I ever have a Li-Ion battery fire. He said that a Class D fire extinguisher is what I wanted. Expensive ! We also talked about vehicle fires (Teslas, etc).
So he just texted me. They ran a call today to a van on fire. That is him trying to put it out. You can see all the fireworks flying over his head. I thought it was a Li-Ion battery fire, but he told me it was a magnesium fire. He said many older vehicles have lots of magnesium in the steering column and dash areas. Who knew ? This was the result. Flaming bits flying everywhere. Have not had a chance to talk with him about it – to ask how it started, etc. but it’s 95 degrees or so about every day now so . . .
This is why I’m not leaving any Li-Ion battery flashlights in my car. Yes, I know they ‘shouldn’t’ combust but if something goes wrong you get a hot fire that is difficult to extinguish and also lots of fireworks to boot.
The video is about 9 seconds long.
[https://www.facebook.com/share/v/hphiPfUmaAQjCTnN/](https://www.facebook.com/share/v/hphiPfUmaAQjCTnN/)
by timflorida
![[NLD] Some new lights for the collection](https://www.edctips.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/y2aaugjuh4id1-150x150.jpg)
3 Comments
Li-ion batteries don’t actually contain elemental lithium, it’s in the cathode in the form of something like LiMn or LiCoO. The flammability comes from the electrolyte thermally decomposing into flammables (as well as hydrogen fluoride). Still not nice and definitely not something to be around though.
Agreed on storing in cars. My car light is a cheapo free zoomie with eneloops in it.
I keep NIMH and alkalines (seperate from the light since they leak but are cheaper than primaries) in the dual fuel convoy T series for my emergency light in my wifes car and a SP10 pro in mine.
I really don’t think you need to worry about how hard it is to extinguish a lithium battery fire when talking about storing one in your car. By the time the fire department gets there, your flashlight will have ignited the whole car and *that’s* what they’ll have to put out, lol.