October 5 through October 11 will be Fire Prevention Week, and the National Fire Protection Association is calling attention to the dangers posed by lithium-ion batteries.

Most of us now carry one of those batteries with us all the time, but they can catch fire and burn uncontrollably. St. Joseph Department of Public Safety Deputy Director Mike Phelps tells us lithium-ion batteries can overheat if you leave them on the charger too long.

“ Inside a lithium -ion battery, there’s several small battery cylinders, almost like a AA battery,” Phelps said. “I f one of those gets thermal runaway, so it overheats, it’s very difficult to contain. So it will burst others, and it’ll continue to burn.”

They’ll even co

See Full Page