National Fire Prevention Week is October 4th – 10th

Jack Eves: X101, always classic. Jack Eves in the studio, and joining me in the studio for this interview is Chief of the Cortlandville Fire Department Mike Biviano and Chief of the Preble Fire Department Ryne Austin. Guys, great to see you. How are you guys doing?

Mike Biviano: Great, Jack, thanks. It’s been a little while, glad to be back.

Jack Eves: It has been a little while, yeah. And Ryne, your first time here?

Ryne Austin: First time, yeah.

Jack Eves: It’s awesome to see a member of the Preble Fire Department, especially the Chief, down here in Homer. Next week is National Fire Prevention Week, running from October 4th to the 10th. Every year they focus on a specific topic for fire prevention, and this one, I know Chief Biviano, is an important one—especially with some of the big fires Cortlandville’s Fire District has had—and that’s lithium-ion batteries.

Mike Biviano: That’s right, Jack. Unfortunately, Cortland County is no stranger to lithium battery fires. Most notably in the Cortlandville Fire District, we had the Dodge dealership a couple of years ago. Most recently, earlier this year at Cars Automotive, it was a battery out of a laptop. I know the City of Cortland has had numerous small lithium fires—be it scooters, bikes, things of that nature. So they’re out there; there’s a lot of them in this area.

Jack Eves: Yeah, and Chief Austin, I’m sure you know a lithium-ion battery is pretty much a domino effect when they start to fail. People have seen the videos; it’s an explosive reaction.

Ryne Austin: Right. It’s in everyday use: cell phones, laptops, and especially with college in town, e-bikes and scooters.

Jack Eves: Yeah, they’re pretty much in any type of electronic device you can think of now. With lithium-ion batteries, people also have to watch out and make sure they’re using the right type of chargers too, because these batteries can overheat easily.

Mike Biviano: Right. Fortunately this year, Cortlandville, Homer, and Preble fire departments were all part of the State Fair House of Hazards booth, and their big focus was lithium batteries. They talked about using the right charger and the right battery. It’s no secret they’re expensive and everybody wants to get replacement batteries. As we were telling people up there, if you have a DeWalt tool, make sure you buy a DeWalt battery. Don’t get on Amazon, save $20, and buy the “Daywalt” battery; get the DeWalt battery. A lot of these third-party vendors don’t undergo UL testing like stuff purchased here in the States. If you get it overseas, unfortunately, they don’t have the same safety standards that we do.

Jack Eves: People obviously have got to remember, if they’re going to be charging or using lithium-ion batteries, make sure they have it charging in a safe place, but also not plugging it in, walking away, and forgetting about it, right?

Ryne Austin: Right. Also making sure that it’s not damaged or punctured.

Jack Eves: Oh yeah, the bubbling. Yep, yep. I’ve seen videos, unfortunately, where people see them start to bubble and think, “Oh, well, I’m going to pop it.” That’s probably the worst idea you can do in that situation.

Mike Biviano: Right. If you see it start to swell or bubble—

Ryne Austin: Don’t charge it.

Mike Biviano: Don’t charge it, and get it out of your house. On any YouTube video, you can search “lithium battery thermal runaway” and look for the signs. If you start to see them smoking, get out. A lot of people in apartments asked us at the State Fair, “What do I do with my bike? Do I park it by my door?” No, don’t park it by your only exit. If that battery lets go and starts burning, you’re effectively trapped in your apartment. That’s what they see a lot in New York City and why there are so many fire deaths—people park their e-bikes or scooters right by their door so they can grab them on the way out. When there’s a fire, they’re now trapped multiple floors up. If you have them, don’t block your door with them.

Jack Eves: Yeah, and I’ll add on to that, because when thermal runaway happens, it’s not like you can just apply water to these fires.

Ryne Austin: Correct.

Mike Biviano: Right. They take a lot more water. They burn hotter, they burn quicker, and it takes a lot of water to put them out. There’s really no stopping them once they take off.

Jack Eves: Yeah, and I know departments have those specialized containment bins too, because even if the fire stops in that moment, there’s still a high possibility of them reigniting later on.

Mike Biviano: Right. The commercial product they make is called CellBlock, usually in five-gallon pails. That’s designed for your cell phone, your vacuum cleaner battery, your e-bike, stuff like that in small quantities. But then the disposal of them becomes a problem as well.

Jack Eves: Definitely. With Fire Prevention Week coming up, I’m sure both Preble Fire Department and Cortlandville Fire Department will be sharing safety tips on your social media pages.

Ryne Austin: Preble will be posting on social media, and we’ll have a display out at the station as well.

Jack Eves: Okay, yeah.

Mike Biviano: And Cortlandville will be doing ours. Given the geographical location of our station, we don’t really have a town center, but we do make up for it on Halloween. This year we’ll give our little plug through the town of Cortlandville, where we’ll be out handing out candy and visiting trick-or-treaters. So watch for us then.

Jack Eves: Hard to believe Halloween’s coming up and that we’re going into October, too. Where did September just go, guys?

Mike Biviano: Where’d this year go?

Jack Eves: Yeah, that one too! And hopefully, knock on wood, it’s going to be a quieter end of the year for everybody.

Mike Biviano: I think you just jinxed us there, but…

Jack Eves: We’ll just blame my brother. He’s not here, so we’ll put all the blame on my brother, Mike.

Mike Biviano: Thanks, Mike.

Jack Eves: Yeah, thanks, Mike. Again, Fire Prevention Week is happening October 4th through the 10th from the National Fire Protection Association, focusing on lithium-ion batteries and charging safety. Guys, thank you so much for taking time out of your evening to speak with me. Always appreciate you coming in.

Ryne Austin: Thanks, Jack.

Mike Biviano: Thanks, Jack.

Jack Eves: For X101, I’m Jack Eves.