VIDEO: Lithium-ion batteries are an incredibly popular source of power, especially in electric vehicles like cars, bikes and scooters. But over the past couple of years, there has been a noticeable increase in fires caused by the batteries. Last October the Baton Rouge Fire Department released photos of an electric scooter that caught fire in a parking garage at LSU. Outside of Louisiana, the New York Fire Department released a PSA warning people of the uptick in fires as a result of the batteries in their “take it outside” campaign. Alton Trahan with the Lafayette Fire Department recognizes that dangers are also present here in Lafayette. “For us, it’s more of the smaller lithium-ion batteries that are used for some smaller devices,” said Trahan. “Saturday at the half hour, the guy had a remote-control car. He was recharging his battery and he put the batteries on top of a chair inside the house while it overheated and ignited the fabric on the chair. And next thing you know, you have a house fire.”
