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What to use on Lithium-ion battery fires?

What to use, and not use, on a Lithium-ion battery fire - a description of water, foam, powder, and AVD products.

Lithium-ion batteries power many of the devices and tools we use every day. So what can you use on Lithium-ion battery fires if one of your devices malfunctions and enters 'thermal runaway'?

Traditional fire extinguishers aren't effective on Lithium-ion battery fires but Aqueous Vermiculite Dispersion (AVD), is a revolutionary fire extinguishing agent designed to combat Lithium-ion battery fires fast.

❌ Water

When dealing with Lithium-ion battery fires, water-based extinguishers will provide an essential cooling effect, but they are not able to form a thermal barrier around the fire. When you run out of water/foam, you’ve run out of fire-suppressing power.

The battery forms its own flammable gases (including oxygen) and heat and will re-ignite, burning until the cell fully discharges its energy.

❌ Foam

Foam is designed to smother with a film on the surface of the fire, but the film will not survive the high temperatures reached in a Li-ion fire. The same applies to Wet Chemical.

❌ Powder

Powder is completely ineffective, as it has no cooling effect, and will not cling to vertical surfaces of the cell. Please note that Lithium-ion battery fires are NOT Class D fires.

✅ AVD

The Lithium-ion Battery Safety Range contains Aqueous Vermiculite Dispersion (AVD), a revolutionary fire extinguishing agent designed to stop Li-ion battery fires fast.

Put simply, AVD is Vermiculite particles suspended in water, discharged in a fine mist.

It provides both cooling effects and forms a heat-proof barrier around the burning battery cell to prevent propagation and re-ignition.

Vermiculite has very strong thermal insulation properties and therefore prevents heat transfer from the burning cell to its surroundings. This means the chemical reaction is contained inside a heatproof cell so that external flames can be dealt with by the cooling effect of the water.

Fire extinguisher types and classes

Here's a useful guide on choosing the right class of fire extinguishers for the appropriate application and scenario.