As St. Louis Park has encouraged more electric vehicles in service of the city's climate goals, the fire chief is warning of the danger of rare, but intense fires.
Chief Steve Koering, during a City Council meeting last week, urged leaders to consider the risk fires pose — especially with the proliferation of electric scooters and bikes, and electric cars stored in underground parking ramps.
Koering emphasized that lithium ion batteries are safe. The problems come when a battery is damaged, or when an improper charger is used.
"They grow so fast," Koering said of fires sparked by a damaged lithium battery, and burn much hotter than a car fire from an internal combustion engine.
In the rare event a lithium ion battery catches fire, he said, the fire can grow so rapidly that it can be hard for people to get to safety, pointing to deadly fires in New York sparked by charging electric bike batteries. Koering said he was concerned about the largely-unregulated practice of electric scooter companies contracting with people who charge scooter batteries in their homes, as well as more batteries stored in apartment buildings.
Koering asked the council to consider both future building regulations for battery safety, and nearer-term spending for the fire department to deal with a new hazard.
