Electric Lawnmower Battery Fires Tricky To Put Out

PEEKSKILL, NY — An electric lawnmower that wouldn't stop smoking resulted in a call to the Peekskill fire department Tuesday.

In a Facebook post by the Westchester County Department of Emergency Services, Chief of Special Operations Doug Stiller said a Peekskill resident was mowing his lawn with an electric lawnmower that had a lithium-ion battery.

It started smoking and he shut off the machine, but it continued to smoke.

A call to 911 brought the fire department's assistance. They put the battey in a 5-gallon bucket of water to cool it down and stop the chemical reaction.

Stiller explained that lithium-ion batteries are known to have issues with overheating and flammability when they become damaged.

He said that once they catch fire they are extremely difficult to put out due to a chemical process called thermal runaway.

The best way to extinguish them is to flood the battery with copious amounts of water.

The Peekskill battery continued to give off toxic gases, and as a result, additional assistance was required. It was eventually removed from the water, put into a CellBlock Fire Containment System and sealed so the homeowner can disposed of it at the Westchester County Household Material Recovery Facility.

For more and to see photos of the incident, read the Facebook post below.