by Thom Zaremba, shareholder at Roetzel & Andress
How high-risk are the buildings we work and live in? One thing is certain. Buildings today are more hazardous than they were 10 or 15 years ago. Why? It has nothing to do with the buildings themselves. It has to do with what we’re putting in and around them, dangerously increasing the fuel loads we are now living with daily.
In my last several blogs, we’ve looked at how fire-rated glass is used to compartmentalize buildings to give occupants the time needed to safely exit buildings. Now we need to find out what is making fire loads so much higher and, in some cases, more dangerous than in the past and how an increased use of fire-rated glazing to compartmentalize buildings can help keep us safe.
The increased fire load is from an explosive, uncontrolled and largely unregulated growth in the use of lithium-ion batteries powering electronic devices. You can easily test this proliferation yourself. Just count the number of lithium-ion battery-powered devices within arm’s reach right now.
Next, count the number of other people around you. Everyone in your family or at work has two or three. There are electric bikes and electric scooters parked just outside the door, and electric cars in the parking garage. At home, don’t forget to count your EV or hybrid or the battery-powered lawn mower, electric hedge clippers and power tools in the garage.
Lithium-ion batteries present a significant risk of fire. Perhaps more importantly, most people using and living every day with lithium-ion batteries are oblivious to the risks they pose. This ignorance not only increases the risk of a fire, but it also increases the potential that someone will be injured or die if they do catch fire.
The new risks posed by lithium-ion batteries begin with the lack of controlling standards used to manufacture the many products they’re now found in. From there, it extends to the new type of “runaway” fires they cause when they catch fire, and it continues all the way to their disposal when they or the devices they power reach the end of their useful lives.
Lithium-ion batteries don’t fail or burn like other batteries. When a lithium-ion battery is damaged (perhaps from a cell phone fall); is improperly charged (perhaps from using the wrong charger or cord); is overcharged (perhaps from forgetting to unplug it after it’s fully charged); overheats (perhaps from being left in a hot car) or a lot of other reasons, it can start to overheat and enter into what’s known as a thermal runaway.
Thermal runaway is a fire caused by self-sustaining chemical reactions inside the battery. Lithium-ion batteries don’t only burn; they burn extremely hot compared to other types of fires, and the chemical reactions that cause the fire also emit flammable and toxic gases that circulate around the fire.
That’s not all. A thermal runaway fire can begin with startling speed. One moment, everything is fine. A few seconds later, the batteries in the device are venting flammable, toxic gases and flames that make it look like a blowtorch! While that’s going on, the flames and extreme heat are starting almost everything around it on fire.
Okay, but that’s it—you put the fire out, and it’s all over, right? No, the danger is far from over. In most cases, lithium-ion fires can’t be put out with either water or fire extinguishers. While water can cool the batteries and limit the fire spread, the fire won’t typically end until the fire consumes all the chemicals that caused the fire in the first place. And after the fire appears to be out, many times runaway fires reignite, sometimes even hours later.
So, what’s the answer?
Fire-rated compartmentation, including the use of more fire-rated glass to stop these dangerous fires from spreading while building occupants and anyone near them have time to safely escape, may be the answer. Where do we need more compartmentation? Corridor walls are a good place to start.
Current building codes often trade off or eliminate fire-resistant corridor walls in favor of automatic suppression devices such as sprinklers. Perhaps it’s time to consider requiring both.
We’ll dive into some more long-term solutions in the coming blogs. Please stay tuned!