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What should you do if you have a Lithium ion Battery Fire?
I remember my science teacher throwing lithium into the pool at school, the reaction was ferocious, which got me thinking about how I would deal with a fire in my van when I am repairing iPhones.
ANSWERS:
Stick it in a bucket of sand. Old Boy Scout solution ;-)
“For best results dowsing a Li-ion fire, use a foam extinguisher, CO2, ABC dry chemical, powdered graphite, copper powder or soda (sodium carbonate) as you would extinguish other combustible fires. Reserve the Class D extinguishers for lithium-metal fires only. “
While you are all burying your disgraced battery pack at the beach you might want to think about what was in that vented gas and where it went. Hexafluorophosphate a main ingredient in most lithium ion (not metal) batteries. When it is heated and catches fire it vents phosphoryl Floride (POF3). Toxic stuff (bad) when it reacts with water; POF3 + H2O → HPO2F2 + HF. That HF is the very toxic hydrofluoric acid. It absorbs calcium ions in the body, is hyper corrosive, and causes pulmonary edema and cardiac arrest. It is (Breaking Bad. Seriously, it is the acid our questionable heros Walter and Jesse use to dissolve bodies in the show)
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