Plenty of Christmas gifts this year will likely need some charging juice, and Fire and Emergency New Zealand is pre-warning people to be cautious around lithium-ion batteries.
“These batteries are used in a lot of the presents people buy each other for Christmas, including toys, tools, devices and phones,” says Fire and Emergency’s community education manager Adrian Nacey.
“Lithium-ion batteries provide a large amount of power in a small package and are safe if used correctly. But, like any product, can sometimes fail and overheat, catch fire or explode.
Fire and Emergency says lithium-ion battery devices such as smartphones, laptops and vapes can be dangerous and should be dealt with carefully.
An Auckland home was recently set alight by the spontaneous combustion of a lithium-ion battery from a drill that was under a workbench.
The…