Home explosion believed caused by lithium battery

By Ryan Bonham

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    EUGENE, Oregon (KEZI) — Firefighters responded to a west Eugene house fire on Monday afternoon that was believed to have been caused by a lithium-ion battery explosion, according to Eugene Springfield Fire officials.

ESF authorities said that firefighters responded shortly before 5 p.m. on July 1 to 911 reports of an explosion and visible smoke at a home in the 3700 block of Hawthorne Avenue. Responding fire crews arrived to find a duplex involved in fire with windows that had blown out, authorities said. Fire officials said that the fire was contained to one side of the duplex and that two individuals were rescued from the dwelling. No one was injured in the incident, according to ESF officials.

Fire officials said that their initial investigation determined that the fire started in the kitchen and the explosion was caused by a thermal runaway incident following the ignition of a significant amount of highly pressurized and flammable gas from an overheated lithium-ion battery.

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