New York Fire Warning: Using the Wrong Chargers Proven to Be Extremely Dangerous

Two home fire incidents in the lower Hudson Valley have resulted in the Westchester County Department of Emergency Services sharing some important information as a warning to all New Yorkers.

Home Fires in Westchester County

On Thursday, July 18, the Westchester County Department of Emergency Services (Westchester County DES) shared photos of two incidents involving unintended fires at homes around Westchester County.

The Department of Emergency Services is using this moment and recent events to highlight the danger of "thermal runaway."

The Westchester County DES explained, "These incidents serve as a reminder of the dangers of mixing charging devices and cords for electronic devices."

Fire in Somers, NY

The first incident occurred in the area of Somers, NY on Monday, July 8th a little before 9 P.M.

The Somers Volunteer Fire Department was called to a home in the area regarding a fire in an attached garage. According to the Westchester County DES, an e-scooter with a lithium-ion battery had been left charging in the garage.

Thermal runaway caused the battery in the e-scooter to explode, blowing the garage doors open and causing the e-scooter to catch fire. The Somers Volunteer Fire Department (SVFD)  was able to remove the e-scooter from the garage before any flames spread to the rest of the home.

The Somers Volunteer Fire Department was able to cool the lithium-ion batteries with the help of their Hazardous Material Technician and clear the home of remaining smoke.

Since the batteries contained lithium-ion, the Westchester County DES Hazardous Materials Team was called to, "package the scooter/batteries in Cellblock and place it inside a metal drum for safe transportation to the hazardous waste dump."

Fire in Lake Mohegan, NY

A second charger-related home fire occurred in the Lake Mohegan area of Westchester County.

This incident involved a handheld massager. The resident had trouble finding the charger that the device came with and resorted to using a charger that unbeknownst to the resident, packed almost 3x more power than needed for that handheld massager.

The intense power caused the device to go into thermal runaway.

No major damage beyond the charger was reported at this incident.

Once again, the "Westchester County HazMat Team responded and assisted with packing the batteries and transporting them to the HMRF" according to the Westchester County DES.

What Exactly is Thermal Runaway?

According to EV Fire Safety, thermal runaway occurs when lithium-ion batteries short circuit. This can typically happen because of an improper amount of power when charging a device that has lithium-ion batteries.

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When the battery short-circuits, it generates a lot of heat, so much so that it becomes uncontrollable and can lead to real fires as seen above.

The best guidance in preventing a thermal runaway fire is to only charge devices with the chargers that they came with. Even if a charging port technically fits into a different device, it does not mean it is built to pack the same amount of power as the intended charger.