BURRILLVILLE – A fire on North Main Street Thursday morning destroyed a shed and everything inside, leading Pascoag Fire Chief Michael Dexter to remind locals to only use factory-issued lithium ion batteries and chargers.
Pascoag firefighters responded to the scene of the fire just after 6:30 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 19 to find the 6 X 10 structure fully engulfed in flames. The blaze was quickly extinguished, with Harrisville firefighters also reporting to the home, and other departments called off as they were unneeded.
“It was contained to the shed,” said Dexter, noting that all personnel left the area by 7:30 a.m., with exception of the fire marshal. “The shed and the contents are a total loss.”
Dexter estimated that the owners lost around $10,000 to $15,000 in items stored inside the structure, and another $2,000 to $3,000 for the shed itself.
The chief noted that the fire has not been deemed suspicious, and that preliminary investigations point to a non-factory battery used to charge e-bikes that was stored inside. Purchased via Amazon and elsewhere, the batteries are often not rated, and tend to overheat.
“It’s still undermined, but that’s the focus,” Dexter said of the cause. “Once those batteries overheat, they burn and there’s no way to put them out.”
The department, he noted, always recommends using the chargers and batteries originally provided with equipment.
“A lot of them you buy online haven’t been tested,” said Dexter.
A similar problem destroyed one home on Joslin Road in Burrillville in 2022.
“It happens all the time,” Dexter said, noting it was fortunate on Thursday that the battery was not inside the multi-family house.
“Picture it in someone’s bedroom or basement,” he said, noting the batteries can go from smoking to fully involved in seconds. “They’re very dangerous. Thank god it was in the shed outside.”
