With every passing day, the fire protection community, as well as the wider society, are becoming increasingly aware of the hazards posed by lithium-ion batteries. Simultaneously, the levels of lithium-ion battery production, storage and use continue to grow.

The codes and standards, which establish an important baseline for safety in our society, have likewise attempted to grow to encounter this new hazard, but always seem to be one or two steps behind the hazards presented in industry. There has been significant code development related to lithium-ion battery energy storage systems (BESS), but what about lithium-ion batteries in other applications? It often falls to the fire protection engineer to span the gap between the actual hazards present and the prescribed code requirements. This must be accomplished in a fashion that is both safe, practical, within budget and justifiable to the fire/building code official.

This presentation will focus on practical approaches to typical problems encountered when protecting facilities that use, store or test lithium-ion batteries. Specific examples will be presented of typical problems where fire research and testing, engineering analysis or general fire protection principles must be relied on to develop viable solutions.