Airlines logged 56 lithium battery fires

0:00Here's something your body never tells you. Somewhere in your 20s, it quietly starts making less collagen. No memo, no warning. You notice it years later. Fine lines, thinning hair, nails that break, and filling a little less flexible on that morning walk. That's not getting older. That's collagen slipping away. But you can support your body naturally. I'm talking about high quality collagen from native path. It gives your body the building blocks it needs to support smoother looking skin, stronger nails, and shinier hair. And some studies suggest collagen supplements may even help support bone health. This is not about turning back time. It's about feeling your best at any age and glowing like you mean it. Right now, my listeners get native path collagen for a fraction of the retail price, plus free shipping, and a free gift bundle. Go to getnativepath.com slash chem. That's getnativepath.com slash chem. Go now while you're thinking about it. Getnativepath.com slash chem. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Individual results may vary.

1:0156 lithium ion battery fires and smoke events on US flights so far this year. That's more than one a week. I'm Kim Comando for Consumer Cellular. Over 50, get one line with unlimited talk text and data for $35 a month, switch today, and save $50. ConsumerCellular.com slash chem. All right, so here's the rule that keeps your flight boring. Power banks and spare lithium batteries right in your carry on. Never-in-checked luggage. That's the FAA rule, and there's a good reason. In the cabin, a flight attendant can reach a smoking battery in seconds, and the cargo hold. Nobody knows until it's a real problem. One more thing to check. If a power bank looks swollen, runs hot, or took a hard fault, it stays home. And this is the part nobody warned you about. If your phone slides down into the seat on an airplane, do not recline. Crushing that battery can't start a fire. Push the call button instead. Keep the battery close. Some things really should not be checked. Read my free newsletter in five minutes, and you're gonna use it all day. Sign up right now at GetKim.com.

2:02Lithium battery fires are happening more than once a week on planes. Melissa in Seattle was on one of those flights. And what she witnessed will make you think twice about every charger you pack. Kim has her story next. There's something about fall that puts me in reset mode. Getting organized, tackling projects, and getting back into a regular schedule. And Raycon everyday earbuds classics are part of my daily routine. Whether I'm traveling, walking the dogs, or running errands, my Raycon's go everywhere with me. Active noise cancellation tunes out distractions. While awareness mode lets you hear what's happening around you. They sound fantastic. They're comfortable, and they pair with your phone and computer at the same time. Battery life is up to 32 hours. And a quick 10 minute charge gives you 90 minutes of play time. Oh, and the new colors are awesome. My personal pick, CoolMend. Now here's the kicker. Raycon delivers the same premium audio quality as the big brands, but I'd half the price. That's an eight plus in my book.

3:03The everyday earbuds classics are the perfect companion for your fall reset. Go to buyraycon.com slash Kim. To get 20% off, that's buyraycon.com slash Kim. This message is brought to you by Raycon. Melissa in Seattle, Washington. Hi there, Melissa. What's going on with you? Hey there. I was just reaching back out to you all about a flight that I was on and a lithium ion battery cell phone charger exploded on the airplane right in front of me. You're kidding. Wow. Was it yours? It was not mine. It was the passenger sitting directly in front of my 18 year old daughter and I. So what happened? We were about 15 minutes in the air. You're getting in your relax mode of taking off and literally there was just this big flaming ball

4:04of orange flame. Gosh. It was an explosion. Wow. Did anyone get hurt? Nobody was hurt. The lady that was actually had the battery charger. She didn't even go to the hospital. She was on our flight, the rescue flight, whenever we flew back to Seattle in the evening time. She was sitting again in front of us. And you're like, you don't have any more charges to you. Okay, just check it. Exactly. She was sitting in front of us and I asked her. I was like, because they were saying on the news that, you know, one person went to the hospital and it wasn't her. I think it was one of the flight attendants because of inhaling the toxic lithium battery fumes. So how did they put the fire out? Did they because most planes know they have these lithium bags, lithium ion battery bags that they can put the battery and then it would extinguish the flames. Did they use that? So it happened so fast, you know, I mean, the flight attendants were all in their little jump seats.

5:09So they were all, you know, strapped in, everybody strapped in. And there was a gentleman that was sitting in front of the passenger with the exploding battery patch. He cost it into the aisle of the airplane and he miraculously had a towel that he put over the fire. And then another passenger put her shoe on top of it. But it was still smoldering and then they got, they reacted, you know, because the cabins getting excited and panic. So they got the fire extinguisher and put it out the rest of the fire. And we were probably 12 minutes because I took pictures and I also took the video. And the oxygen masks were not deployed for 12 minutes probably. So we were in close range inhaling these toxic lithium battery fumes.

6:16And it's like worse than smelling burnt plastic. Wow. When it first happened, because I know myself, I know where my mind would go. Did you have any idea what was going on? I knew that there was a fire and I was waiting for the oxygen mask to deploy. But there is a delay with oxygen mask deploying and it's due to the cabin pressure. Okay. So they don't, they don't just get triggered automatically. They have to be manually deployed. So the captain or the pilot has to do that has to flip a switch. Okay. Yes. And so by the time that they knew that that was going on, because you said the flight attendants were in their jump seats, right? You have passengers putting out the fire. And so how long was it before a flight attendant feel, you know, figured out that what was going on within a couple minutes? Okay. Yes. Within a couple minutes.

7:17And then the mask did not deploy for with my timing 12 minutes. So we covered our mouths. I told my daughter, sitting next to me, I'm like, cover your mouth and put your, you know, put your elbow over your nose. I was smart. Like with your shirt, like put your shirt over your mouth. No, it was smart. Okay. So then you get the fire put out. Then what happens after that? You said you turned around? Is that what happened? They did. It took them a while to communicate. There was just a whole, there was just a delay. I feel like everybody was paralyzed and unprepared. It was a slow reaction and there was like no safety plan in place. And I was reading an article on the National Business Aviation Association. And it was talking about cases with these ion battery explosions on airplanes. And I feel like as the public and how much we fly and use aviation as a source of transportation,

8:23there is just a lack of a knowledge and preparedness for these types of. Yeah. And all of us, I mean, everybody's carrying something with a lithium ion battery in it. Something, right? And just since December, this is the second person we've had on the show that's had a battery explode. Remember the firefighter that had the dog and the carpet that caught on fire? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And cut that on his nest cam. Yeah. We're security camera. Whatever it was. So, so I'm just curious. So you go through all this. What did Alaska Airlines give you as far as like here? You know, we're sorry that this happened. This is really kind of funny. They gave us $12 vouchers for, I guess, food. I don't know what you can buy for $12 in the airport. A bottle of water. Okay. To help put out the fire, but you wouldn't work on a lithium ion battery. Just saying, but. And then they gave us a $300 credit for our next flight. Do you know if it was a Chinese knockoff charger or what actually caused the fire?

9:25You know, I don't know what kind of charger it was, but I'm sure that it was because everybody's ordering chargers off of Amazon in the article from the National Business Aviation Association. It's like you pick up a battery off the street in New York for five bucks, a battery charger. Right. You know, so people really don't know what they are buying. And I've had incidences myself where a battery charger gets warm and warms up my phone. Oh, it does. I, you know, what we all have even even the ones that are supposedly certified. Right. Not only by the certain you touch me. You're like, oh, that's really hot. It's not supposed to be like that. Is it? Well, Melissa, thank you so much for calling in. What a frightening thing. My first thought would have been terrorism. Like that's exactly where my mind would have went. Thank goodness there were people in that plane that have it better together than I who did. I don't know if I could have gotten on the plane again with the same person. Right. Yeah, you need to like strip down. I need to make sure there's nothing else on it. Get her rent a car. Okay, smarty pants. I know that you need more tips like this because you want to stay ahead of the tech curve.

10:27But as they like to say on infomercials, but wait, there's more. This is really fun. You can watch the Kim commando show over on my YouTube channel. Just go to youtube.com slash Kim commando. That's youtube.com slash Kim commando. And if you're more into podcasts, well, you can find me everywhere. You get your podcasts just search for a commando with a K of course. That's K O M A N D E O. And if you have any questions for me or if you want to share a story that happened in your life, I love that. Just go to commando.com. I know there's so many commandos K O M A N D E O commando. And then there's a big button on the top right. It says ask Kim. I know funny how some things work in tech. Fill out that form and I read every single note that you send me.