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BERKLEY — After extinguishing a fire at an office building last week, the Berkley Public Safety Department is reminding people to use caution with lithium-ion battery chargers.
According to a social media post, Berkley public safety officers responded to calls of a fire at 3:42 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 22, near Coolidge Highway and Oxford Road. Employees at the building were attempting to put out the fire with a fire extinguisher.
Berkley Detective Lt. Andrew Hadfield said the source of the fire was a lithium-ion battery charger.
“The device that had caught on fire was removed from the building, and then the officers just worked on ventilating the area so they could return to work,” he said. Hadfield added that they were able to clear the building in 30 minutes.
The fire caused no injuries and the building suffered no physical damage; only the odor of smoke needed to be ventilated.
In its initial post about the fire, the Berkley Public Safety Department warned residents to use caution when using these types of chargers. This includes always charging the batteries in a cool, well-ventilated area; unplugging devices once charging is complete; and never throwing end-of-life batteries in the trash.
For more safe disposal options, people are encouraged to visit SOCWA’s Waste Wizard website at socrra.org/waste-wizard.
Hadfield added that these chargers are known to be used for lawn equipment, cellphones and laptops.
“Sometimes the batteries, either end of life or through prolonged charging, can fail, whether that’s an overheating issue or leakage or swelling, and in that case, could rupture and cause a fire,” Hadfield said. “So many reasons why they could catch fire. Obviously, a lot of people who use batteries all the time don’t have that issue, but they do occur. So, we sent out the reminders … just to make sure that you’re not leaving batteries plugged in over an extended period of time, just whatever limited period you need to charge the device.”
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