Idaho Falls firefighters respond to the garage fire caused by a lithium ion battery. Photo from Idaho Falls Fire Department.
An AvSax lithium battery fire mitigation bag
All these everyday electronic items are powered by lithium ion batteries
A lithium ion battery caused tens of thousands of dollars damage to a house in the USA … sparked by a battery used to power a remote controlled aircraft.
The blaze was confined to the garage at the house in Idaho Falls in Idaho but also caused smoke damage inside the home.
It means the family has had to move out while the damage is assessed and repaired.
It’s thought the battery that caught fire was plugged in and charging at the time.
There has been a lot of publicity recently about lithium battery fires on scooters, especially in New York where these fires have caused several deaths.
A battery used to charge a remote controlled aircraft is very unusual but what happens if there is a lithium battery fire on a real passenger aircraft?
They can and do happen because passengers take hundreds of personal electronic devices onto planes every time they fly and some do overheat and catch fire.
This can particularly occur if a device is lost down a seat and when the seat is moved to try to retrieve it the device and the battery inside it is crushed, causing it to overheat and catch fire.
Many airline companies are now prepared for this with AvSax lithium battery fire mitigation bags.
There are almost 17,000 AvSax on more than 100 airline companies’ planes worldwide, including some of the biggest names in the industry.
AvSax have been used in action dozens of times to deal with overheating or burning devices and every time the device has been made safe so the plane has been able to continue its journey to its final scheduled destination.
Planes without AvSax often have to divert and make emergency landings at the nearest airport which costs the airline tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars and massively inconveniences passengers.
Jessica Bailey, special projects manager at Environmental Defence Systems Ltd, the British company which invented and manufactures the AvSax using military grade material said: “AvSax put passenger safety as a top priority, are incredibly cost effective and all airliners should now really carry them as a matter of course.
“Plane companies are very aware of the potential risks and danger of lithium battery fires at 30,000ft which is why lithium battery safety has become part of the safety briefing by cabin crew before each flight.”
AvSax won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for their innovation in the UK, the highest accolade any business can achieve.
For more information on AvSax go to www.avsax.com
