Vape pen catches fire on DL flight from LGA
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Vape pen catches fire on DL flight from LGA
A Delta Air Lines flight bound for Houston from New York's LaGuardia Airport had a fire interrupt the boarding process Wednesday.
As passengers were boarding SkyWest flight 3879, smoke appeared from a passenger's bag in an overhead bin.
"You could tell it was a very strong smell, smelled like a campfire at first,” passenger Rex Sakamoto, who shot the video, told WCBS. "Once I realized and someone yelled fire, it was startling like wow, I need to get off this plane right now."
A statement from Delta said the smoke was caused by an overheated battery pack inside the bag.
The vape pen started smoldering inside a bag after the device’s battery pack overheated.
Video shows a flight attendant quickly approaching the fire with a fire extinguisher and stopping the blaze from spreading.
No one appeared to be injured and the incident happened while the plane was on the ground.
As passengers were boarding SkyWest flight 3879, smoke appeared from a passenger's bag in an overhead bin.
"You could tell it was a very strong smell, smelled like a campfire at first,” passenger Rex Sakamoto, who shot the video, told WCBS. "Once I realized and someone yelled fire, it was startling like wow, I need to get off this plane right now."
A statement from Delta said the smoke was caused by an overheated battery pack inside the bag.
The vape pen started smoldering inside a bag after the device’s battery pack overheated.
Video shows a flight attendant quickly approaching the fire with a fire extinguisher and stopping the blaze from spreading.
No one appeared to be injured and the incident happened while the plane was on the ground.
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"You could tell it was a very strong smell, smelled like a campfire at first,” passenger Rex Sakamoto, who shot the video, told WCBS. "Once I realized and someone yelled fire, it was startling like wow, I need to get off this plane right now."
(Cited source is not available in my country.)
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For lithium fires, only a CLASS D COPPER POWDER EXTINGUISHER is recommended. The minimum equipment required includes eye-protection, respirator, rubber gloves, etc. If other combustibles nearby catch fire as well as a result of the lithium fire, then we need to use appropriate extinguishing agents to douse the secondary fires. Needless to mention, it is important to address each type of fire with the appropriate extinguishing.
Water should not be used on any lithium fire because pouring water on a lithium battery fire can make it more difficult to extinguish it because of the reduction of lithium in water, which leads to the release of hydrogen, which is highly flammable; the potential of reigniting a fire is much greater when using water. In case the appropriate Class-D extinguisher is not available, DRY SAND or even DRY TABLE SALT can be safely used to douse the fire.
Dowsing a lithium battery fire in water, or other non-inflammable liquid (to cool the cells), is one of the recommended steps.
AC 121-2-7 - Management of Lithium Batteries in the Aircraft Passenger Cabin
AC 121-2-7 - Management of Lithium Batteries in the Aircraft Passenger Cabin
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Those are not lithium primary cells, they don't have enough lithium to make water a problem.
What you see burning in rechargeable lithium battery fires is the hydrocarbon based electrolyte (solvent/fluid between the sheets).
So no, rechargeable lithium batteries don't fall in the category "Lithium metal" in regards to fire handling.
Common misconception.
What you see burning in rechargeable lithium battery fires is the hydrocarbon based electrolyte (solvent/fluid between the sheets).
So no, rechargeable lithium batteries don't fall in the category "Lithium metal" in regards to fire handling.
Common misconception.
As weidehopf points out, there is a lot of confusion created by the casual use of the term “lithium battery”.
Most consumer devices including vape pens (I’m not a user - I had to look that up) use rechargeable Lithium Ion batteries. There is no metallic lithium in them and the recommended method for extinguishing fires in these batteries is to use water, preferably by immersing them in water.
Lithium batteries on the other hand are not rechargeable and DO contain metallic lithium. The most common lithium batteries are button batteries. There are also larger ones - for example my SPOT GPS tracker uses AA disposable lithium batteries.
Metallic lithium reacts violently with water, so dousing a fire with water would not be a good idea! A Class D dry powder extinguisher is required to extinguish a lithium battery fire.
Most consumer devices including vape pens (I’m not a user - I had to look that up) use rechargeable Lithium Ion batteries. There is no metallic lithium in them and the recommended method for extinguishing fires in these batteries is to use water, preferably by immersing them in water.
Lithium batteries on the other hand are not rechargeable and DO contain metallic lithium. The most common lithium batteries are button batteries. There are also larger ones - for example my SPOT GPS tracker uses AA disposable lithium batteries.
Metallic lithium reacts violently with water, so dousing a fire with water would not be a good idea! A Class D dry powder extinguisher is required to extinguish a lithium battery fire.
