Safety committee discusses lithium battery dangers in Nevada schools

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Lithium battery fires are extremely hard to put out and can last for hours, even days. Two in the last few months have shutdown major interstates in and around Nevada. The lithium battery fires on Interstate 15 and Interstate 95 ignited conversation on battery transport and regulations.

Lithium batteries power everything from electric vehicles to cell phones and batteries of all sizes have led to fires. FOX5 has reported on an e-bike starting an Arizona housefire, a vape pen exploding in a New Jersey mall, and a lithium-ion battery blamed for an e-bike repair shop fire that killed four people in New York City.

“Here at NDEP we are actually doing new regulations regarding lithium-ion batteries,” shared Cierra Peters with the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, a guest speaker at a recent meeting of the Nevada Department of Education Statewide School Safety Committee during a discussion on lithium-ion batteries.

“How big is this issue that we are facing within schools?,” Peters questioned.

Back in December, a fire at a CCSD storage building near Flamingo and McLeod was caused by an exothermic reaction from lithium batteries.

For Nevada schools, one major safety issue is vape pens.

“Vape pens do have lithium-ion batteries…they are considered a hazardous waste,” Peters explained.

In 2019, Austin Adams, then 17, was using an e-cigarette at his Ely home when it exploded, fracturing his jaw and causing him to lose several teeth. Educators say they are constantly taking the devices away from children.

“If at Elko High School where we only have 1,400 kids and I’m taking away four, five, six in a day, God only knows at a school 3,500…I think the most recent young age one I saw was a fifth grader,” shared CJ Anderson, Superintendent of Schools for the Elko County School District.

“I did speak with a couple of schools…they called up here and said they had a whole draw full of like 30-40 vape pens,” Peters reported.

While having a large number of the devices is a danger for schools, it’s also against state regulations.

“It is difficult because if you guys were to collect over 2.2 pounds, you would have to be held liable as a large generator,” Peters revealed. Educators asked how to dispose of their unwanted waste, one even suggesting schools should be given special containers. Throwing lithium batteries in the trash is not an option but something many people do anyway.

“When they go into a trash truck, it compacts it, so we have had several landfill fires and trash truck fires that way. That has been a big issue as well,” Peters described.

A fire broke out at Republic’s recycling plant on the northside of the Vegas Valley in September 2021. The cause is believed to be a lithium battery. How to best dispose of unwanted batteries is a question not just for Nevada schools but anyone who no longer wants one.

“How are we recycling these batteries? Is it correct? Is it incorrect? In the industry as a whole, not just in Nevada but the whole world there isn’t really a great way to recycle lithium-ion batteries,” Peters asserted.

According to Peters, NDEP has proposing changes to Nevada’s hazardous waste regulations. It will be up to the State Environmental Commission to approve them November 19th.

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