LI-POLY FIRES and Safety: It’s 9:30 a.m.
and you’re at your favorite flying site. You
want to fly, so you hook up your lithium
battery and charger to your car’s battery,
stepping away for a moment to chat with a
friend. All of the sudden the lithium battery
explodes!
A run to a fire extinguisher is futile as
your rig is being consumed; you can’t hope
to stop it. Moments later the vehicle
becomes a raging inferno, exploding more
lithium batteries, the car’s fuel tank, its own
battery, and finally the tires.
Then, because the flames are so high,
more destruction—the club’s shade structure
becomes involved and all you can do is get
back, call the fire department, and await its
arrival to put it all out.
This happened May 29 at a flying club in
Oregon.
Since lithium batteries have become
popular, we have all seen pictures of cars,
shops, and even houses that have been badly
burned or totally destroyed. The saddest
thing is that most of these tragedies, like the
fire in the previous story, could have been
avoided.
So, how do we stop this?
Most important, don’t charge batteries in
or on a vehicle of any kind. (I sure hope that
flier in Oregon learned this lesson.) This is
the most dangerous way a battery can be
charged and it makes me cringe every time I
see it.
Not only do you have to worry about the
lithium burning, but also the car’s battery,
its gasoline, then the car itself. These will all
make for a much larger fire, as you can see
in the pictures.
Buy a small 12-volt battery for your
charger, such as the type for motorcycles or
lawn mowers, and you’ll be set. They don’t
cost much and can be easily carried.
Another way to avoid a lithium fire (and
a rule that should always be followed) is
never leave your batteries unattended while
they are being charged, no matter where
they are.
I know this is hard to do because most
lithium batteries take from 20-50 minutes or
more each to charge and we are busy people,
but it’s the right thing to do. If you find
that’s just not possible or you don’t have the
patience, charging on the ground in a
suitable container, such as a Li-Poly sack or
battery bunker will work just fine. Don’t
charge on, under, or close to any flammable
objects.
In closing, I’d just like to mention that
safety needs to be everyone’s priority. It
doesn’t need to get in the way of your fun.
Just make thinking safely a habit and it
won’t. It’s not hard, it’s just a decision we
all need to make. It will help keep us flying
far into the future.
Event Sanctioning: Listed on the left side
of this page, below the associate vice
presidents, are your District X Contest
Coordinators. If you need to sanction an
event, contact the one closest to where you
fly.
There are many benefits to sanctioning
your event and these fine volunteers will
take care of all of your paperwork needs.
District X
Jim Giffin, District X Vice President; [email protected]
Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah
Jim Giffin
Vice President
Box 494688,
Redding CA 96049
Tel. (916) 760-8291
[email protected]
www.ama10.org
Associate Vice
Presidents
Tim Attaway, Chula Vista CA
(619) 427-6392
Darwin Barrie, Chandler AZ (480)
946-8955
Mike Brown, Bella Vista CA
(530) 549-3005
Greg Clemensen, Las Vegas NV
(702) 870-6242
Wayne Hamada, Honolulu HI
(808) 521-7733
Marc Karpowich, Logan UT (435)
232-1873
John Lockwood, Clovis CA
(559) 298-1606
Rick Maida, Morgan Hill CA
(408) 778-6885
Scott Malta, Merced CA
(209) 723-4202
Bill Malvey, Ladera Ranch CA
(949) 481-8624
Jerry Neuberger, Santee CA
(619) 258-4477
Bob Reynolds, Tucson AZ
(520) 296-8183
Jon Wilson, Ryde CA
(916) 776-2797
Contest Coordinators
Ellis Hall, Fair Oaks CA (North);
(916) 217-6302; [email protected]
Tim Attaway, Chula Vista CA;
(619) 427-6392;
[email protected]
Wayne Hamada, Honolulu HI;
(808) 521-7733;
[email protected]
Roxanne Cottrell (Utah and
Arizona only), Mesa AZ; (602) 321-
7955; [email protected]
District X Volunteers
Above: Such a sad sight. The
raging inferno at the height of
its fury.
Left: This is what is left of the
vehicle. I think a lot of people
learned a valuable lesson about
why we shouldn’t charge on or
in a vehicle when this
happened.
172 MODEL AVIATION
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Edition: Model Aviation - 2009/11
Page Numbers: 172