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A dog almost burned a fire chief’s home down after chewing through a lithium-ion battery that burst into flames.
Chief David Sasar, from a North Carolina fire department, shared the footage of Colton’s brush with disaster.
The curious pup is seen gnawing through the device before watching from the stairs as fire spreads through the house.
The dog was unharmed, and the station’s firemen took the opportunity to remind people about the dangers of lithium-ion batteries.
In the UK, fires caused by lithium-ion batteries, common in e-bikes and handheld devices, have soared by 93% in two years.
The dramatic video, taken by a living room security camera, shows the playful mutt toying with the battery.
The battery then bursts into flames, sending the dog scarpering onto the landing, where he stares down in horror.
Chapel Hill Fire Department wrote: ‘Colton is a good boy, but he counter-surfed while his humans (a CHFD family) were away and got hold of a device with a lithium ion battery.’
The department continued: ‘Colton was able to get the battery, break its protective features by chewing on it, and ended up causing a fire.’
The battery was charged and unplugged when finished but had not been stored safely, the department wrote online.
The fire service added: ‘Thankfully, he wasn’t injured, and other than some smoke damage and a ruined rug, the house is fine.’
With the dog unharmed, people have seen the funny side of Colton’s electrifying encounter.
One person wrote: ‘The way he’s standing on the stairs like “yeah this isn’t gonna be good”’.
Another person said: ‘Colton was looking at it burn from the half landing trying to figure out how he will explain this one.’
But the department has reminded people ‘how important it is to safely charge, store, and use lithium-ion batteries’.
The UK’s fire services have also struggled to beat back a boom in battery-related incidents in recent years.
Between 2022 and 2024, lithium-ion battery fires skyrocketed from 690 to 1,330, according to insurance firm QBE.
High density and lightweight, they are being used in all manner of devices, including smartphones, power banks and e-vehicles.
But their ‘sheer volume’ means ‘even a small percentage of faulty or mishandled batteries can lead to a significant number of incidents,’ according to fire prevention firm CheckFire.
A London mother has campaigned for more government regulation after her daughter Sofia Duarte, 21, was killed in an e-bike battery fire in 2023.
Maria Frasquilho Macarro’s petition has been backed by the charity Electrical Safety Firstand and over 45,000 signatories.
She is urging the government to prioritize fire safety within e-bike and e-scooter regulation and enforce better quality control of those products.
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