Lithium-ion batteries spark another Staten Island garbage truck fire, the second in four days

For the second time in four days, a lithium-ion battery tossed out with the trash caught fire inside a city Sanitation truck on Staten Island.

The FDNY was called to Midland Avenue and Patterson Avenue at 11:33 a.m. Sunday, pulled the batteries out of the truck's rear compartment and put out the fire, with help from a specialized unit, the Staten Island Advance reported, citing an FDNY spokesperson. No one was hurt, and the operation wrapped up at 12:22 p.m.

On Thursday, Oct. 29, at about 9:40 a.m., firefighters quickly put out a similar fire in the back of a truck near Sand Lane and Olympia Boulevard in South Beach. A Sanitation Department spokesperson confirmed that one was started by a lithium-ion battery that had been thrown in the trash, the Advance reported. The paper counts at least four battery fires in Sanitation trucks on the borough this year, including one in New Dorp on July 20 and another in April caused by a toy with lithium-ion batteries.

A citywide problem

Across the city, 76 fires in DSNY trucks this year had been caused by lithium-ion batteries as of mid-October, up from 55 in all of last year, Streetsblog reported, citing the department. The FDNY counted 87 lithium-ion fires in garbage trucks overall. Lithium-ion battery fires of all kinds are up 41% this year, and a retired FDNY official who led its lithium-ion task force told Streetsblog there has been a huge increase in Sanitation truck fires. With most fires now happening outdoors or in trucks, Streetsblog concluded the bigger battle is disposal, not charging.

Where your old batteries should go

It is dangerous and illegal to put rechargeable or lithium-ion batteries, the kind in phones, laptops, power tools, e-bikes and scooters, in the trash or recycling, according to the Department of Sanitation. Instead:

• Take them back to a store. Every store in New York State that sells rechargeable batteries, or products that contain them, must accept rechargeable batteries for recycling: hardware, office supply, drug and electronics stores. If a store refuses, you can report it to the state DEC at 1-800-847-7332.
• Use a Special Waste Drop-off site or a SAFE Disposal event. On Staten Island, the drop-off site is at 1000 W. Service Road, off the Muldoon Avenue exit of the southbound West Shore Expressway, past the security booth for Staten Island Garage 3, the Advance noted.
• Bag them or tape the ends. DSNY asks that batteries be individually bagged or have their terminals taped before disposal.
• Button and coin cells (watches, key fobs, toys, greeting cards) also stay out of the trash. Ordinary single-use alkaline AA, AAA, C, D and 9-volt batteries can go in regular trash; tape the ends of D and 9-volt batteries.

Battery fires have turned deadly elsewhere in the city: four people have now died after an e-bike battery fire at the Patterson Houses in the Bronx last week, as we have reported.