In 2016, Samsung issued a global recall of the Galaxy Note 7 in 2016, citing 'battery cell issues' that caused the device to catch fire and at times explode. 'The more batteries that surround us the more incidents we will see.' 'Lithium batteries are generally safe and unlikely to fail, but only so long as there are no defects and the batteries are not damaged or mistreated,' said Steve Kerber, vice president and executive director of Underwriters Laboratory's (UL) Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI). But a combination of manufacturer issues, misuse and aging batteries can heighten the risk from the batteries, which use flammable materials. They allow companies to squeeze hours of battery life into increasingly slim devices. For starters, lithium-ion batteries are now in numerous consumer tech products, powering laptops, cameras, smartphones and more.

These incidents are becoming more common for a number of reasons. A fire at a multi-family home in Massachusetts last month is also under investigation for similar issues. On Tuesday, an alarming video surfaced of a Canadian homeowner running downstairs to find his electric bike battery exploding into flames. 'It's a tremendous volume of fire as soon as it happens, and it's very difficult to extinguish and so it's particularly dangerous.'Ī residential fire earlier this week in Carlsbad, California, was suspected to be caused by an e-scooter lithium battery. 'In all of these fires, these lithium-ion fires, it is not a slow burn there's not a small amount of fire, it literally explodes,' FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh told reporters. In 2022, the New York City Fire Department responded to more than 200 e-scooter and e-bike fires, which resulted in six fatalities. Officials believe the incident stemmed from a lithium-ion battery of a scooter found on the roof of an apartment building. Lithium-ion batteries, found in many popular consumer products, are under scrutiny again following a massive fire this week in New York City thought to be caused by the battery that powered an electric scooter.Īt least seven people have been injured in a five-alarm fire in the Bronx which required the attention of 200 firefighters.

Lithium battery fire