Lithium Poly Fire In The House ~ Yikes 20Sep24

The good news is that my custom Fire & Carbon Monoxide alarm system properly alerted both Kala & me to a fire inside Blodgett, and that I was home and awake! BTW, a live actual fire is not the way to test a system, but it is confidence inspiring after I had replaced all the sensors about a year ago and then designed & installed a custom alerting scheme through SmartThings. The bad news is that a fairly destructive fire started in my Arlo battery recharger which took me 3 minutes to find, despite the alert. It was a total mess... and a bit jarring as to confidence in LiP recharging.

A battery, or both, exploded all over the place, and the charger and wall hardwood was on fire when I found it and swept all the stuff into the sink to douse it. Had I not been in COS, I would've known the problem but my response time would've been slower and results might've been much worse. As is, repairs will be challenging to fully complete... the formica counter & splashguard, the cabinetry, the scorched hardwood floors. I've cleaned up from the disaster but not fixed things. Sheesh.

I guess the real issue is whether to count on ANY Li-Poly recharging scheme, Arlo, or Home Pod, or mac, or whatever. Hmmm... for the Arlo stuff I have just replaced it directly; it's too much work and expense to do an entirely new security system. I imagine the battery that exploded was not Arlo OEM but I can't really tell; I got a well-rated lithium ion replacement.

Literally everything in the utility room where this happened was covered in soot. Even my dirt and dust was covered in soot. Such a great 4 hour clean up to a still disastrous look. Overall this is a warning to anyone with similar recharging scheme, and also an urging to have a good fire alarming system with remote alerts as well as a solid plan in mind how to attack an alarm received when not present in the house. Sheesh... in the end analysis, I was prepared, and was also very lucky.

Update 27Sep24 ~ Fireproof Box Scheme... In addition to new Li-Ion batteries and charger for the Arlo security cameras, I also bought a firesafe box in which to place the charging station. Using the box to hold the charging station should contain any fire if it were to ever happen again... yeah, I do close the lid.