Unexpected Risks: Tulsa Fire Department On Lithium Batteries, Storms, & Smoke Detector Guidelines

Andy Little of the Tulsa Fire Department joined News On 6 this morning to talk about safety risks in our homes.

LeAnne: You responded to a house fire in early May caused by a charger, can you talk about that?

Little: In the home surveillance video, you see a dog pick up a charger that we would use to charge our phone or other electronics and start chewing on it. It's an item that is seemingly harmless, but it turns out to be a very dangerous situation. Fortunately, all the pets escaped unharmed, but her home was destroyed. Had they been home, asleep, or not had that alarm system many other things could have changed the situation. It could have harmed someone or even led to death.

LeAnne: Yeah, you think about how you have those around maybe extras or old, and you're not using them. I mean, what should we do with them?

Little: Well, we don't want you to throw them in the trash can. We don't want you to put them in recycling. It's important to take these somewhere like the household pollutant collection facility here in Tulsa. You can call 211 and ask for information on other facilities. Some big box construction stores collect those and some battery stores as well. It's important that they are put in a safe place when you dispose of them.

LeAnne: How is it different for you guys as firefighters battling a fire that's been, you know, I mean, these lithium batteries can make a big difference, can't they?

Little: They can. Across the nation, we're seeing an enormous rise in fires from these. In some big cities where they have the scooters inside their home, we're seeing fires from those and we're concerned. When our firefighters are in home fires, those can catch fire while they're in there and lead to explosions, additional dangers, and rapid acceleration in the fire that could cause harm to those firefighters. So, it's just something we never worried about much in the past, but we need to think about it as citizens.

LeAnne: That video is a home in Tulsa, I know it got on social media. Did that surprise you? I mean, when you saw it, were you like I would never have expected that?

Little: In Tulsa specifically, we're no strangers to preparing for storms. We have tornadoes and we have inclement weather. Something we have always told the public is to charge your batteries so that if you lose power, you can still call 911. I don't ever recall saying make sure those are in a place where your dog doesn't get them. It will no longer be kept on my nightstand. I'll have it in the drawer.

LeAnne: Another conversation about things that we never thought would probably happen. The benefit though of having a smoke detector, a smoke alarm, and some kind of notification. What's that message to people?

Little: It's everything, you know. We are dedicated to ensuring that all Tulsans have a working smoke alarm in their home, and we will install those free of charge. If you don't have that in your home, it's a matter of time. Even a few seconds can be the difference between you escaping your home or being trapped and injured or even killed.

LeAnne: Is there kind of a guideline of how many smoke detectors to have per number of rooms, per square footage, upstairs, downstairs?

Little: Sure, it depends on who you're talking to. We always recommend that you have them outside or inside of your sleeping quarters. If you have a multi-story structure, it needs to be on both stories. If you have people who are in different bedrooms, it's very important to cover those areas where they sleep. Traditionally, people always put them in the kitchen and the problem with that is, if they're cooking and it goes off, people would take them down or take the batteries out, and that's the last thing we want you to do. Most newer smoke alarms have a 10-year battery, so you don't have to worry about that battery going bad as frequently. Now we still want you to test it, as we did when we set the clocks forward and backward to make sure it works, but they are designed not to be able to be tampered with.