VIDEO: Rechargeable lithium ion batteries are showing up more frequently in garbage. As a result, local officials say they are causing more fires at waste handling sites.
“In the last month we’ve had two fires. Both have been caused by improper disposal of batteries. We run them over with the equipment and they burst into flames,” said Clay County Solid Waste Manager Corey Bang.
A quick thinking worker recently used a backhoe to prevent a fire in a pile of garbage at the facility.
“The loader operator actually saw the battery, grabbed it with the hoe and got it out in the middle of the floor,” said Bang.
“As he was moving it, it burst into flame about the size of a basketball,” Bang continued. “It was a white hot fire when it went off.”