Firefighters in Montreal, Canada, are upset for several reasons. First, the last four Stanley Cup champions have been Tampa Bay (twice), Las Vegas, and Florida. There are no Canadian teams among them. Second, these experts who fight fires for a living are issuing warnings to smartphone users, but no one seems to be paying attention. Montreal firefighters and emergency officials are asking cell phone users to stop charging their phones overnight.
Most people prefer to charge overnight as they usually cannot use the handset while sleeping. If you, like many people, are addicted to your phone, you can close your eyes, distract yourself from your phone, and fall asleep without feeling any withdrawal symptoms. When you wake up in the morning, your smartphone is fully charged and completely rested.
Last month, smoke from a fire that started in a lithium-ion battery container began filling the air above the Port of Montreal. |Image credit – TVA Nouvelles
Montreal firefighters are responding to a devastating blaze at the Port of Montreal late last month, when a container carrying 15,000 kilograms of lithium-ion batteries, the equivalent of about 200 Tesla cars, caught fire and caused a huge blaze. I still remember that. Thick smoke and the smell of burning chemicals hung in the air for hours. 100 people near ground zero were evacuated.
Thick smoke can be seen rising from a fire that started in a lithium-ion battery container at the Port of Montreal last month. | Image credit – CBC News
Montreal emergency officials are asking smartphone users not to charge their phones while sleeping at night. What they are concerned about are the lithium-ion batteries used to power smartphones. It can catch fire while your phone is charging or sleeping soundly. When one of these batteries ignites, it ignites with the same intensity as a torch or Roman candle. Such fires are difficult to extinguish and require sufficient time and large amounts of water to extinguish.
Follow these steps to safely charge your device and avoid your device catching fire.
- Use the right charger and don’t rely on cheap imitations.
- Replace the old battery with a new one.
- Charge your phone only when you are awake.
- Charge your phone on a hard surface.
- Install working smoke alarms.
Due to the increasing number of products that rely on the use of lithium-ion batteries, the number of fires associated with such technology is increasing every year. By making sure you are awake and alert when charging your phone, if a fire breaks out, you can put it out before it spreads and disables you, filling your lungs with toxic smoke. You can stop it.
