FDNY to host national symposium on e-bike lithium-ion battery fires

Firefighters from across the country will join federal Homeland Security Department officials at the FDNY Fire Academy this week for a two-day deep dive on how to better tackle the scourge of deadly lithium-ion battery fires, the Daily News has learned.

The symposium, slated to begin Tuesday, will be held less than a week after a 34-year-old Bronx man was killed when a charging lithium-ion moped battery set his kitchen on fire.

During the event, stakeholders will focus on the science behind how lithium-ion fires begin, proven tactics on how best to battle these blazes and how the federal government can help with more research.

Firefighters from Seattle, Denver, Chicago and Atlanta will be in attendance and sharing their lithium-ion battery fire experience with the FDNY.

“The FDNY has been on the front lines and leading the charge on this issue. We’ve been reducing injuries and deaths as a result of collaborations like this,” said FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker. “Frankly, we want to know what they know. This is a two-way street.”

Among the issues to be discussed is the creation of a nationwide checklist in which e-bike and scooter battery fires can be better identified and cataloged.

Data on lithium-ion battery fires across the country are skewed because not every fire company knows how to identify the blazes, FDNY Fire Marshal Daniel Flynn said.

“When we are arriving at the scene these fires are usually very advanced because they ignite so quickly. These fires seem similar to what many of us see when it’s an arson,” Flynn said. “Sometimes they’re so advanced we’re looking at it as if it was a gas pour. We have to standardize how the data is captured and cataloged.”

The checklist will be given to the U.S. Fire Administration, which will share the information with firehouses throughout the country.

Lithium-ion battery fires have already been added to a nationwide list of fire causes and will be included in the U.S. Fire Administration’s new National Fire Incident Reporting System data platform, which is expected to go online next month.

“This is a new and evolving fire risk, so many fire companies didn’t know if they were dealing with a hazardous material fire, electrical fire or a vehicle fire,” said U.S. Fire Administrator Lori Moore-Merrell. “Different fire departments categorized it in different ways, but now we are able to organize the information and the firefighters are speaking the same language. But we still need to assess the ongoing gaps [on this issue] that we need to shore up.”

At the same time, more is being learned on just how the cells in the batteries become unstable, overcharge and overheat in a process called “thermal runaway” — which causes the fast-spreading fires.

While damaged batteries and after-market battery packs not meant for use with e-bikes are more likely to ignite, the recent hurricanes that hit Florida showed that thermal runaway can occur if a lithium-ion battery compartment is submerged under water, Moore-Merrell said.

Ongoing research into how the batteries catch fire has helped firefighters “understand the problem more fully” and helped bolster standard operating procedures when handling these fires, said Julie Brewer, deputy undersecretary for the Homeland Security Department’s Science and Technology Directorate.

“[New York is] on the leading edge of it, but we are seeing it in other communities. It is a danger,” Brewer said. “It will become prevalent across the nation if we don’t get ahead of it.”

In 2019, when these fires were first tracked by the FDNY, only 13 blazes were attributed to the batteries. In 2020, that number jumped to 44, FDNY officials said.

As the number of lithium-ion batteries increased, the FDNY began a massive public service announcement campaign to encourage e-bike and scooter owners to use only factory-installed batteries, not charge them overnight, and keep the bikes outside if possible. The department also ramped up inspections at e-bike stores and improved response tactics.

As a result, fire deaths caused by lithium-ion batteries dropped from 14 at this time last year to five so far this year.

During symposiums like the one scheduled for Tuesday, the FDNY has shared everything it’s learned on combating lithium-ion battery fires with fellow firefighters throughout the nation — and beyond, Tucker, the FDNY commissioner, said.

“We’re not just concerned with saving lives in the city, we’re concerned with saving lives all over the globe,” Tucker said.