EAGLE, Idaho — As summer temperatures climb across the Treasure Valley, Eagle Fire says neighbors should pay close attention to how lithium-ion batteries are charged, stored, and disposed of.
Eagle Deputy Fire Marshal Kobie Woolf made the point by walking Idaho News 6 through Eagle Fire's own equipment — leaf blowers, drills, sawzalls, sanders, cutting wheels, flashlights, portable lights and handheld radios. Nearly everything the department uses in the field now runs on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.
"It's completely transformed the way that we do business from a firefighting standpoint," Woolf said.
Woolf said the station's charging systems include built-in indicators that alert crews when a battery has been damaged and can no longer safely charge — a feature he said more consumer products are beginning to adopt as well.
The three most important tips for any lithium-ion battery come down to where you buy it, how you charge it and what you do with it when it dies.
"Anytime you buy a new tool, buy it from a reputable brand that has a listing similar to a UL rating to it," Woolf said.
"All the batteries are unique. They have an owner's manual. It'll tell you how they should be charged, how they should be stored, how charged the battery should be during the storing process. Just sit there, take five minutes, read through an owner's manual, and it'll give you a lot of the safe operating procedures to use the equipment in. And that will alleviate a ton of the problem," Woolf said.
On the question of whether extreme summer heat makes batteries dangerous on its own, Woolf said the heat can damage a battery but that the bigger risk comes from improper charging and storage.
"It's super important for the charging process of them that they are being charged in an area that's not too hot or too cold," Woolf said.
When a battery reaches the end of its life cycle, do not throw it in the trash. Batteries can be dropped off at the Ada County landfill's household hazardous waste facility, or at major hardware stores like Home Depot or Lowe's — most of which accept them free of charge.
"A majority of those were directly caused by lithium-ion batteries being disposed of in garbage cans," Woolf said, referring to roughly 8 recent fires that started in garbage trucks.
"As long as they're being used and operated correctly, they shouldn't be something that's scary to the public," Woolf said.
Woolf said Eagle Fire does not create ordinances — that is up to the city — but the district works closely with the City of Eagle and Eagle Police Department and will support whatever measures are put in place to keep neighbors safe.
"If there's any kind of emergency with an e-bike, whether it's somebody who's crashed, if it's a Foothills rescue, if there's a fire... as long as you call 911, we're gonna respond promptly, and we're gonna provide the highest level of service that we possibly can," Woolf said.
Out on the Greenbelt, Idaho News 6 spoke with Eagle neighbor Eric Roth, who has been working on bikes professionally for more than two years at the Boise Bicycle Project and has been wrenching on them as a hobby since childhood. He said the battery issue shows up regularly in donated bikes.
"Often it seems the bikes have been donated because the batteries have gone bad, and the cost of replacing the batteries is about as much as the bike was in the first place," Roth said.
He said the short lifespan of e-bikes compared to traditional bikes is a real consideration for buyers.
"It's not like a bike like this, that's 30 years old and still ready to go another 30. It's four years old and kind of at the end of its lifespan already," Roth said.
Roth also noted that e-bikes carry significantly more weight than traditional bikes — 60 to 80 pounds compared to 25 to 30 — which raises the stakes in a crash or collision.
On the Greenbelt, Roth said the behavior of some e-bike riders is creating tension for everyone else.
"I do feel like on the green belt, that people are getting grumpier at the bikes in general as a result of the e-bikes, and us riding regular bikes at regular speed are getting the dirty looks from people who've been upset or close call with people that are flying 25, 30 MPH on their e-bikes and riding a little more recklessly," Roth said.
He said the speed issue is reaching a point where some kind of regulation seems inevitable.
"It is getting to the point with the speeds that they're gonna have to try to figure out something; otherwise, a lot of the people aren't feeling super safe walking with bikes flying past them at that size and that speed," Roth said.
For anyone on the fence about whether to go electric or stick with a traditional bike, Roth made his preference clear.
"It's free exercise; it's not that bad in my mind to ride around just under your own power, especially on the flat green belt, you can get all the way down to the zoo and back to Eagle, and basically have no elevation gain difference and get a nice little workout in," Roth said.
"We're always gonna support, and we're gonna continue to do our best to serve the citizens of Eagle to the highest level that we possibly can," Woolf said.
