WESTBOROUGH – The Westborough Fire Department warned community members on Sunday against the dangers of battery fires following an incident in a local hotel room last week.
Sharing their message on social media, the fire department posted photos of a burned laptop computer.
The fire department explained that the fire was mitigated by building sprinklers, which prevented further fire spread.
There were no injuries.
“Please be cautious when leaving battery operated items unattended when charging,” the fire department wrote. “An overheated battery can cause it to fail and promote ‘thermal runaway,’ which means it can enter an uncontrollable, self heating, condition resulting in fire.”
A federal study in 2018 previously identified roughly 25,000 “incidents of overheating or fire hazards” across the country related to batteries in consumer products over a five-year span between 2012 and 2017.
Hudson fire personnel joined in this warning on Sunday, sharing the Westborough Fire Department’s initial post.
“Don’t become complacent when it comes to charging electronics and always keep in mind the surface on which you leave a charging device,” the Hudson Firefighters Local 1713 union wrote on its Facebook page.
UPDATE: This article has been updated with a quote from the Hudson Firefighters Local 1713.
