Rest-raw!
A wild video captures the moment a wild dog accidentally sank its teeth into a lithium-ion battery – sparking a fire that quickly spread throughout a home in Oklahoma.
According to a pet cam video captured by the Tulsa Fire Department last week, the white puppy can be seen chewing on his cellphone battery while a second brown dog and a black cat sit unknowingly nearby.
Suddenly the battery spits out small purple sparks and the animal trio runs towards safety.
Within a few seconds, the damaged lithium-ion battery exploded, starting a blazing fire that was further fanned by the dog bed on which it was lying.
The two dogs stared – and even barked – at the growing inferno before giving up hope that their growls could stop the intruder from taking over the house.
Fortunately, the three animals were able to escape through a dog flap and their human family quickly followed them.
The Tulsa Fire Department extinguished the flames, but there was significant damage to the house.
The fire occurred in May, but firefighters released the video last week to raise awareness of the dangers of using lithium-ion batteries.
“Lithium-ion batteries are known for storing a significant amount of energy in a compact space. However, if this energy is released uncontrollably, it can generate heat, produce flammable and toxic gases and even lead to explosions,” said Andy Little of TFD.
“These incidents can have a variety of causes, including exposure to extreme heat, physical damage to the battery, overcharging, or even the use of incompatible chargers… Many people keep these batteries at home for convenience, unaware of the potential dangers they pose.”
Tulsa fire officials urged homeowners to keep batteries out of the reach of children and pets and to properly dispose of damaged batteries at recycling centers.
