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  • 2015-01-30 (xsd:date)
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  • Can 9-Volt Batteries Cause House Fires? (en)
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  • In early 2014, the infotainment program Inside Edition aired a segment about the dangers purportedly posed by 9-volt batteries, focusing on a house fire reportedly touched off when improperly discarded batteries ignited inside a paper bag and started a fire that substantially damaged a family's home. The clip, embedded above, explained 9-volt batteries are sometimes used to intentionally ignite kindling with relative ease (usually in conjunction with steel wool); but the focus of the segment was the supposed risk posed by 9-volt batteries that have been stored or thrown away and the circumstances under which they might touch off fires. Our newsroom also came across similar examples, including the one below: Two incidents involving damage to homes due to suspected 9-volt battery fires have been widely reported. In the segment displayed above, a Colorado family's house was said to have caught fire due to 9-volt batteries that jostled inside a paper bag intended to be disposed in the trash. The homeowner, Dave Miller, first shared his tale with Kansas City station KCTV in January 2014 (although the date of the fire was not provided). In July 2012, a New Hampshire family sustained fire damage to their home following the unintentional ignition of 9-volt batteries stored in a junk drawer. The New Hampshire Department of Safety's Fire Division published a warning in August 2012 about 9-volt battery safety in response to the incident, and even before that blaze EHS Safety News America had cautioned: All you need to have happen is for a metal object like steel wool or a paper clip short out across the top of a 9 volt battery and ignite paper or other easily ignited materials and you'll have a potential disaster in your home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooCarvCp-mw Widespread circulation of videos about fires caused in this manner has created the false impression such fires are common or on the rise, but that does not appear to be the case. According to the most recent statistics cited by the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA), 9-volt batteries are not one of the ten most common causes for house fires [PDF]. Cooking, heating, and lighting equipment top the list, with arson, smoking materials, washers and dryers, candles, and playing with heat source rounding out the rest. Although cooking and kitchen fires generally caused more destruction, smoking was linked to a higher risk of death in the event of a fire. The NFPA advises specific handling and disposal protocols be adhered to when storing or discarding 9-volt batteries in order to minimize the possibility of their igniting and causing fires in rare conditions when they are stored with other batteries or objects composed of metal: Storing 9-volt batteries (en)
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