Posted on 05/07/2026 4:18:31 AM PDT by Uncle Miltie
A lithium-ion battery caught fire at a Daniel couple’s home as they were waking up on Tuesday. “The flames, my God, I couldn’t believe it,” Jack Morey said. “It just blew up and shot flames I’d say about a foot up.”
Daniel resident Jack Morey Jr. was still waking up when he thought he smelled something like spilled paint in his living room.
“That’s what we thought it was at first,” Morey said.
It seemed like a typical morning for Morey and his girlfriend, Diana Gunderson, who were drinking coffee and feeding their animals. They noticed a strange, paint-like chemical odor coming from Gunderson’s work area.
At first, Gunderson thought she might have spilled some paint. But then her eyes fell on a lithium-ion battery she was charging. It was visibly swollen. “I picked it up and I was taking it to the door,” she said. “It started smoking and sparking in my hand.”
She tossed the suddenly smoking battery onto a rug by the door. Within seconds, flames were shooting out of the device, scorching the floor. “The flames, my God, I couldn’t believe it,” Morey said. “It just blew up and shot flames I’d say about a foot up.”
Morey, a volunteer firefighter, smothered the battery with a towel and tossed it outside onto a concrete pad well away from the house, while Gunderson called 911.
“A lot of people would have thrown water on it or whatever,” he said. “But I knew better than to do that.”
Water Least Effective Approach Fire officials say what happened in Daniel is part of a fast-growing wave of lithium-ion battery fires showing up in homes across Wyoming and the nation.
In many of those incidents, people try water. But it’s absolutely not the right approach, Sublette County Unified Fire Deputy Chief Bob Kladianos told Cowboy State Daily.
“Water is not an extinguishing agent for these batteries,” he said. “A bucket of water would actually retain the heat, and it doesn’t control the chemical chain reactions.”
When they arrived, firefighters used a thermal scanner to determine the battery was still at 300 degrees when they arrived. They let it sit in the gravel driveway until it cooled enough to handle. Two fire trucks, each with a thousand gallons of water, stood by to keep anything nearby from igniting.
“When these batteries are burning during thermal runaway, they’re anywhere from 390 degrees Fahrenheit at the beginning and can go all the way up to 1,800 degrees,” Kladianos said.
Kladianos agreed that quick action by Morey and Gunderson to remove the battery from their home and get it away from anything flammable probably saved the structure.
“This could have ended very differently,” he said. “Had this happened at night, or if they had left the house, things could have ended very differently.” As it is, Morey said the battery scorched the throw rug Gunderson tossed it on and left an 18-inch burn mark on the floor.
The smell of smoke has also spread throughout the home, leaving behind a stubborn chemical odor that has lingered even after extensive airing out and washing.
Toxic fumes from the device caused some difficulty breathing. Firefighters donned full self-contained breathing apparatus to enter the house, where they established positive pressure ventilation to remove the fumes.
Now that the incident has passed, Morey is concerned that not enough people know about the dangers of lithium-ion batteries.
“There’s a million of these things out there,” Morey said. “This needs to go public. We could save somebody.”
Never Leave Charging Battery Unattended Rock Springs Fire Chief Jim Wamsley, an expert on lithium-ion battery “thermal runaway,” said the Daniel-area incident mirrors a growing number of fires involving consumer lithium-ion batteries in everything from power packs to hoverboards.
“We’ve had at least two of those fires in Rock Springs that I can think of right off the top of my head,” he said. “Ideally, these should never be left unattended while they’re charging.”
Once the reaction begins, the intensely hot fire proceeds quickly, Wamsley added, and there’s no stopping it.
“My best advice would be don’t leave small appliances like that with lithium-ion batteries charging,” he said. “I mean, don’t just plug it in and go out to dinner or go to work or go to sleep, because when they get to that thermal runaway — it’s swift and dramatic.”
Most of the problems so far don’t seem to be with cellphones, Wamsley added. It’s more with lower-quality batteries, such as those one might buy on Amazon that haven’t had to comply with more stringent rules.
“Part of the issue is we have appliances coming in that have not been through rigorous testing,” he said. “That perhaps don’t follow the same manufacturing standards as we would require locally in the United States.” Wamsley recommended looking for a “UL listing,” which stands for Underwriters Laboratories.
“That’s not a guarantee there won’t be a fire,” Wamsley added. “But they do extensive testing before they put their stamp on anything.”
Charging Stations Should Be Nonflammable Wamsley said it’s also a good idea to set up charging stations on a surface that can withstand high heat, such as ceramic tile. There should be nothing flammable around the charging station for at least 3 feet.
If a battery does catch fire, he recommends immediately calling 911 rather than trying to put the fire out.
“Get everyone out of the house, get yourself out,” he said. “Because it really does happen fast.”
If the battery hasn’t yet caught fire and it’s possible to quickly remove it from the home to a nonflammable area such as concrete, that is also effective, but the fire department should still be called immediately. Water, he agreed, is the least effective approach and shouldn’t be tried.
“I’ve read accounts of people or fire departments that have put 50,000 to 60,000 gallons of water on a single vehicle fire in an attempt to extinguish it before it got cool enough for them to actually do anything with regard to moving it,” Wamsley said.
Fire Departments Scrambling to Adapt Given that tens of thousands of gallons of water are ineffective at putting out lithium-ion battery fires, fire departments across the nation are playing catch-up when it comes to handling such fires, Wamsley said.
“That lithium just wants to continue to burn,” he said. “It’s a series of small cells or interconnected cells. When you get one (cell) that gets an insult and it wants to ignite, generally, it talks to its closest neighbor, which does the same thing, and on and on and on.”
Wamsley and Kladianos both said their departments are looking for a dedicated facility where such batteries could be placed so the chain reaction can proceed without endangering anything.
“We haven’t identified anything concrete yet,” Wamsley said. “But we’re looking around. Because, again, just by nature, this is such a new phenomenon and we’re all just trying to figure it out.” Wamsley’s department has also purchased blankets for EV fires, which can help reduce radiant heat coming off the fire. It’s not ideal, however, Wamsley added, because the blankets also trap potentially flammable gases that are being released by the burning battery.
“It’s not the best answer,” he said. “It’s a short-term answer.”
“The last thing they want is one of those batteries catching fire down in the cargo hold.”
Because that has happened in the past. 😱
We can’t let information like that out in the public. Not since we lost all of our editors in the media, we are fed only bits and scraps of information.
There are charging bags and even better charging boxes (one is called “the bat” that can help stop exploding batteries from catching whole house on fire. Problem is most folks wont want to take the extra steps to recharge their phones or tablets. Too “inconvenient”. We use a double bag system for phones, but they arent .arge enougn for tablet. Gotta find a larger one.
Yep. So many peop,e walk around with them in pockets. Cant imagine one in a shirt pocket going off right under the face.
Newer batteries are better though at not getting to point of exploding, but they still can. When they get wet, and or batteries are old, that is when they pose greatest danger. I think that one of guy in store got his phone wet if i remember right. It was a wild video
Exactly, which is why they check EVERY bag.
That is also why they do not want you checking your lap top or any other electronic device with a lithium ion battery.
My other post I added a link for the Ebike ProSS. Which is the fastest Ebike on the market today. The new SR model goes 70 mph. These came out a few years ago. I called and spoke with the company in California. I asked for the dealership in New England. He said they didn’t have one and would I like to be the first dealership. I would have to buy at least a dozen of them. BUT, I would get a better price if I bought a 40’ container. Which would have been about 130 bikes. For a total of $400K.
These Ebike Pro’s use Samsung batteries. So, they are a reputable company. Who’s batteries are UL tested.
Many of the knock off Ebike brands use batteries that are NOT UL tested.
I now have three battery operated chainsaws. A Stihl with a 12” blade and a 30 volt battery. UL tested. Made in Germany.
I also have two smaller hand held chainsaws. One has a 4” blade. The other has a six inch blade. They were both gifts.
They are very handy for trimming a branch off a tree. Especially when standing on a ladder. Neither one has a UL stamp on the battery housing. Both items were made in CHINA.
We had an old phone and went to change the battery and the dang thing sparked. Thought it was gonna burst intk flames- took it outside znd removed it, then took a spike and carefully drove it through the battery from z distance, didnt want it erupting in flames anywhere unexpectedly. It put on quite a show. The battery had swelled, and phone got hot when charging. Thankfully we chsnged batteries when we did.
I have some major battery backups for my freezer and refrigerator. On standby are larger units. They are all lead-acid batteries.
“When they get wet”
Every time we have a hurricane in my state EVs that incure salt intrusion at the battery catch fire like clockw.
The media does their level best to blackout that it’s happening by reporting on 100 other things related to hurricanes but the news still leaks evrntu.
So I have a few LifePo4 batteries I used for amateur radio, 6AH, 15AH, 20AH and 50AH. When charging, I only charge during the day and not overnight. I set a timer to check on the charging and for the most part willing to let solar panels outside do the charging. I think batteries with BMS are not as liable for these problems as those without (Battery Management System)
Yeah, if you ever see a battery “pillowing”, or the casing of the device holding a battery expanding, STOP USING THAT DEVICE! The battery is having issues that might lead to a fire.
Ignorant question from me: would I know if inhale amynkithium batteries in my house? Afaik I never bought anything with one. How would I know if something is lithium? Is it in appliances you charge with your computer tower and the little cords?
If I HAD not if I inhale!!*
They put a fan in a window o door to draw out the fumes.
Lithium-ion batteries can ignite or explode when overcharged. Overcharging causes them to overheat, creating a dangerous chain reaction called thermal runaway that can result in fire, venting of toxic gases, or violent rupture. This occurs because excess energy breaks down the internal components, causing the battery to produce its own fuel and oxygen, making it extremely difficult to extinguish. And to add insult to injury, if they are not thoroughly extinguished, they will re-ignite. Kind of the gift that keeps on giving.
Li-Ion batteries can also have a thermal runaway if you over-discharge them. The key component to most Li-Ion battery fires; the safety circuit.
OEM batteries include a safety circuit that prevents over charging and over-discharging. In multi-cell battery packs, the safety circuit also keeps the individual cells balanced so an individual cell cannot overcharge or over-discharge.
The "more stringent rules" mentioned in the article is a reference to the safety circuit. Chi-com battery manufacturers will omit the safety circuit as a cost-cutting measure. Those are the cheap after-market batteries you buy from Amazon.
Re-ignition usually doesn't happen to a single cell. Once a cell bursts and vents the gases and/or ignites, that's it. The real problem with re-ignition is in multi-cell battery packs where the heat of one cell sets off the thermal runaway in adjacent cells.
“All your DeWalt and Milwaukee and Ryobi and such tool batteries are lithium-ion. There are literally hundreds of millions of them out there in daily use. We don’t seem to have an inordinate number of fires caused by them.”
Use quality batteries and chargers. No problem.
That's because the OEM battery packs have the built-in safety circuit that helps prevent overcharging or over-discharging, thus minimizing the cause of thermal runaway.
“It would be nice if “public service announcements” would be broadcast with the information you gave us.”
That information would not look good to the public about using batteries. The public, while lazy, does tune in when they start seeing safety information that depicts boom or fire. They get wary of the product. The sellers don’t like that.
wy69
As a cost-cutting measure, Chi-com batteries omit the safety circuit that prevents overcharging and over-discharging, the usual cause of thermal runaway.
Fake batteries.
Canon took that very serious . People would use fake batteries and their cameras were catching on fire.
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It has a 72 volt 3600 WATT battery.”
3600 watt-hour.
6 kW Rated/ 15.8 kW Peak
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