The dangers of lithium batteries

I don't know if I mentioned this or not, but while Marianne and I were away at Alexandria Bay, I was receiving notices from our Ring doorbell about heightened activity on our street. It turned out that our neighbors, two doors down had a fire in their garage. totally destroying it.

Luckily, the house was not involved as the garage is detached and no one was injured in the incident. According to reports I have heard, my neighbor thinks the blaze may have started from lithium batteries that were charging - possibly for his ride-on lawn mower. Or maybe from some kind of other yard tool. It's not totally clear at this point.

While I was putting up the MFJ-1982 HP antenna on Saturday, and I was moving that center support mast further back into our yard, I was able to see past my neighbor's backyard into theirs..

As you can see our common neighbor's vinyl fence melted, but what you can't see is that the vinyl siding on the back of the house where the garage fire occurred has totally melted, also. That's how intense the blaze was.

Call me paranoid, but this is why I NEVER leave lithium batteries charging at home if we're away. I don't care if it's HTs or laptop computers or tablets or phones. If we're away and no one is home, those devices are off and unplugged. Period. Same with any lithium batteries that I use for my HF radios. The risk is just not worth it.

Stay safe, my friends.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!