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Fire Prevention Week Puts Lithium-Ion Battery Safety Front and Center

Officials urge certified purchases, safe charging, approved recycling to curb rising battery fires.

Overview

  • The NFPA’s 2025 campaign, “Charge into Fire Safety: Lithium-Ion Batteries in Your Home,” runs Oct. 5–11 with a nationwide push on buying, charging and recycling safely.
  • Fire services report more battery-related fires, including weekly incidents in Vancouver, two Durham garbage-truck fires since June and multiple 2025 cases in San Luis Obispo.
  • Guidance urges listed products with UL, ETL or CSA marks, manufacturer-approved chargers, hard-surface charging, unplugging when full and stopping use if batteries swell or overheat.
  • Disposal warnings stress never putting devices or batteries in household trash or curbside recycling, with approved drop-offs available through Call2Recycle and retailers such as Home Depot and Lowe’s.
  • Departments are holding open houses, school visits and demonstrations across the U.S. and Canada, with events from California’s Central Coast to Milwaukee and a live battery fire demo scheduled by North Carolina’s Office of State Fire Marshal.