Lithium-ion batteries are dangerous.
How many times do we have to be told?
The latest example came on the night of Dec. 6, when a fire broke out at Staten Island Technical High school, for years recognized as one of the top high schools in the nation.
One firefighter suffered minor injuries battling the blaze, which took about 45 minutes for the FDNY to bring under control.
Fire marshals soon discovered the cause of the fire: a lithium-ion battery was to blame.
One lucky thing about the blaze was that it occurred at 7 p.m., well outside of school hours.
Lithium batteries have become an integral part of our lives. They power cars, boats and e-bikes, cellphones and laptop computers, power tools, toys and, ironically, smoke detectors.
But that doesn’t mean that they’re completely safe, as the fire at Tech showed. Imagine if the fire had broken out while the school was full of students and staff.
As of October 23, there had been 222…
