Hertfordshire has "a growing problem" with fires caused by lithium-ion batteries typically used in household products and electric vehicles such as e-bikes and e-scooters, with a number of fires occurring as a result of residents wrongly disposing of them in their rubbish bins.

A meeting of Herts County Council's public health and community safety panel met on Thursday, January 30, where members received the council's response to a motion put forward by two of its members around safety issues from lithium-ion batteries.

It followed a string of fires reported in Hertfordshire, with six occurring at waste disposal sites in Hitchin over a two-year-period. Batteries dumped in bins – whether they are loose or still inside discarded electric items – can cause fires when punctured or damaged in the compactor of a bin collection van or during normal waste processing operations.

Residents are advised on the council's website to dispose of batteries in the designated battery collection area of their local recycling centre.

The motion, proposed by Cllr John Hale and seconded by Cllr Sandy Walkington, was referred by the county council on December 10 last year to the public health and community safety committee for consideration.

In one area, the motion requests the chairman to write in support of The Safety of Electric-Powered Micromobility Vehicles and Lithium Batteries Bill, currently being put forward by Lib Dem peer Lord Don Foster.

The council's response to the motion highlighted some of the work undertaken in the area,

Andrew Butler, the council's regulatory and community safety director, who authored the response, said: "This absolutely is a growing problem due to the increasingly wide use of lithium-ion batteries in every day products with literally millions being thrown away every year, and the impact really can be quite significant.

"Until fairly recently, because we use a national reporting tool, we couldn't accurately report on the number around this. We've now introduced our own tool, separate to the national reporting system, so we can now report on what's going on in Hertfordshire on this problem.

"As we've seen in the paper, since we introduced that process in April last year, we've seen 14 instances of fires just over nine-month period in Hertfordshire, all involving lithium-ion batteries and the majority of them are as you expect, at residential properties.

"That includes on example which you may remember from last summer, where we saw quite a significant fire at a social housing block, where the fire was believed to be caused by a lithium-ion battery.

"In that case, the resident was woken up in the middle of the night by two loud bangs, presumably the battery exploding, and the fire quickly spread up the curtains and throughout the whole room. Thankfully, she was able to evacuate herself but it took six fire appliances to put the fire out and the whole flat was left uninhabitable. So the consequences can be quite severe.

"Councillors will also be familiar with a number of fires at waste sites in Hitchin, so we've seen six fires across two sites up there over a 24-month period and the majority of those fires all involved the disposal of lithium-ion batteries, so absolutely this is a problem for us, and it's a focus for us."

The report authored by Mr Butler stated: "Recognising the increasing risk posed lithium-ion batteries and associated products, HFRS Fire Prevention and Protection teams have undertaken a number of local initiatives to highlight the risk to residents and businesses.

"This includes the creation of two lithium-ion battery safety awareness videos as part of a campaign called 'Simple Changes Save Lives'. To date the videos have been viewed over 10,000 times. The service also supports the NFCC 'Charge Safe' campaign which provides information about safely charging e-bikes and scooters.

"Another recent HFRS campaign video highlighting these risks attracted over 17,000 views via social media channels.

"Information has been circulated to vulnerable groups, schools and media activity undertaken to raise awareness including a recent interview with Heart FM. Advice around safe charging has been built in as a mandatory element of Home Fire Safety Visits and information about charging of mobility scooters included in local OPALS (Older Persons Active Learning and Safety) events organised by the Fire Prevention team.

"Dedicated training around lithium-ion batteries has been delivered to Fire Protection Officers so that they are able to effectively identify risks and advise businesses."