The theme for 2025's Fire Prevention Week is "Charge Into Fire Safety", which I thought was sending the wrong message. Do you want people to Charge Into Fire anything? I submit that we should be charging out of fire.

It turns out the National Fire Prevention Association is talking about safety when dealing with batteries, specifically lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-Ion Energy, or LIE, as I like to call it, was a huge advance in batteries as long as they don't, oh, burst into flames.

LIE batteries can be recharged and are light, which make them perfect for everything from cell phones to electric vehicles. It's truly amazing technology, and if proper care is taken they're pretty safe. But if they're used incorrectly, or if they get damaged, well ...
 

Despite all the other issues that divide our nation, I think we can all agree this is bad.

If LIE batteries are damaged--yes, I made that acronym up, and even though to my knowledge nobody's currently lying about them, I'm kind of proud of it. Where was I? Oh: When they're damaged, LIE batteries can undergo something called a thermal runaway, which is pretty much what it sound like. The fire starts, and doesn't want to go out.

Ever.

This is only if they get damaged by, say, throwing your phone across the room, or crashing your electric car. 

The fires burn so hot that the stream of a fire hose may not be able to extinguish the fire. The best way to control an electric car fire is to bring in a backhoe, dig a big hole, fill it with water, and shove the car into it. Then wait. This is impractical on your average freeway, so these batteries often burn up completely before they can be extinguished, taking everything around them along the way.

As a firefighter, I can tell you this is very frustrating. 

So, what does the NFPA suggest?

First,  buy only certified products. Honestly, I have no idea where you'd go to get cheap uncertified LIE batteries, but the good ones should have a stamp from a nationally recognized testing lab.

I wonder how expensive insurance is for those labs that test batteries?

Second, charge your devices safely, using the cords they come with. Not ones out of the box of old cords you have in a cardboard box in the basement. You know you do.

Charge them according to manufacturer's recommendations. They come with your device. Yes, they DO. You just ignore the paperwork. Don't charge things under a pillow or blanket, or your carpet, or your dog, or anything that could allow heat to build up. Unplug it when it's charged. Basically, don't overcharge it, and stop looking at me that way--do as I say.

Common sense, that's all we ask.

Finally, dispose of your batteries--all of your batteries--in a responsible way. "Hey, let's see what happens when we throw this into the campfire!" is not a responsible way.

If you put them in trash or recycling they could get damaged, or insulated from air flow, allowing them to go boom, or at least whoosh. Imagine a burning garbage truck doing an emergency dump in front of your house. You don't want anything, or anyone, doing an emergency dump in front of your house.

On a related note, these batteries don't just give off extreme heat when they burn--they also give off toxic gasses. So if one does start burning, charge away from the fire.

Oh, and one more thing: We're concentrating this year on batteries, but all the other usual fire danger apply.  "Be careful" is not a bad rule to live by.

 Here's some trivia: There are fires, or at least the appearance of emergency services, in almost all of our books. Check them out here:

·        Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

·        Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

·        Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

·        Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

·        Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

·        Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

·        Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

·        Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

·        Substack:  https://substack.com/@markrhunter

·        Tumblr:  https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

·        Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

·        Audible:  https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

Remember: Uncontrolled fires are way more fun in books than they are in real life.

I promise to post something not related to the new book next week! 

 Yes, it's true: News releases still exist, and authors still release them. Where they fly after that--it's hard to tell. Some authors might find this template useful; if anyone wants to, feel free to send this off to the media/social media/internet thingy/newsletter/skywriting airplane of your choice.

NEWS RELEASE

Albion Authors Write the Haunted History of Noble County

An Albion couple steps into the supernatural with their new book, Haunted Noble County, Indiana.

Published by The History Press, the book is part of its Haunted America series, and comes out on August 12^th. Mark R. Hunter and Emily Hunter spent over a year researching the book, and collected stories from many sources, including eyewitnesses.

“Every area has ghost stories,” Mark explains. “We just put them together and added pictures.”

Some of the stories are well known to locals, including the legend of Spook Hill, which inspired a famous poem by Indiana’s former State Poet Laureate. Others stem from events from Noble County’s history, such as the hanging of a horse thief and accused murderer at Diamond Hill, near Ligonier. Still others were told directly to the Hunters, including their favorite: “The Thing In the Basement”.

Do the authors believe?

“I’ve seen a few things,” Mark admits, “and I keep an open mind. But most of the people we talked to directly are absolutely convinced they saw something supernatural, and we respect that.”

They were also able to dispel some rumored hauntings, and in a few cases were disappointed to find no stories at all. “Look at the Noble County Old Jail Museum,” Mark says. “How could a place that atmospheric not be haunted? But we found no ghost stories there.”

The resulting book, Haunted Noble County, Indiana, is available on the Arcadia Publishing website, the Hunters’ social media sites, their website at www.markrhunter.com, and various retail locations around Noble County.

It’s not the Hunters’ first foray into local history. Together they produced the books Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights: A Century or So with the Albion Fire Department; Images of America: Albion and Noble County; and Hoosier Hysterical: How the West Became the Midwest Without Moving at All.

Mark R. Hunter is also the author, with Emily’s help, of two humor books: Slightly Off the Mark: The Unpublished Columns, and More Slightly Off the Mark: Why I Hate Cats, and Other Lies. He also has three published books set in Noble County: the novels Coming Attractions, Storm Chaser and its sequel, The Notorious Ian Grant, as well as a related short story collection, Storm Squalls. His young adult adventure, The No-Campfire Girls, is set in southern Indiana. Another novel, Radio Red, is set in Michigan.

Mark is a 911 dispatcher and volunteer firefighter in Albion, and Emily is a trail guide at the Pokagon State Park Saddle Barn. He blogs at https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/ or substack.com/@markrhunter, and can be found hanging out on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter/.

Note to Media: Mark and Emily are available for questions and interviews, and can be contacted through the website at www.markrhunter.com.