The confined space of an aircraft passenger cabin is the last place you want a lithium battery fire to start
An award-winning AvSax lithium battery fire mitigation bag
A torch powered by lithium batteries caused a fire alert on a plane … the first time a flashlight is thought to have sparked an emergency on a passenger aircraft.
The incident happened on the Southwest Airlines plane as passengers were boarding in San Jose, California.
A cabin crew member spotted smoke coming from a passenger’s carry-on bag and it was quickly discovered a torch had overheated and was burning a hole through the bag.
The flashlight was put into a special thermal containment bag and removed from the aircraft which then took off after a slight delay.
The incident happened on July 15, 2024 and has now been revealed by the Federal Aviation Administration which is responsible for flight safety in the USA.
Lithium battery fires have been a growing problem on aircraft worldwide in recent years which is why many are now equipped with specialist thermal fire mitigation bags. The most popular by far is the AvSax which won the highly prestigious Queen’s Award for Innovation in the UK, the highest accolade any product can achieve.
There have now been 487 verified lithium battery incidents on aircraft recorded by the Federal Aviation Administration in the USA from March 2006 to July 2024.
These figures are just for the USA which suggests hundreds more incidents have happened elsewhere in the world but have never been reported. No other regulatory authority releases lithium battery incident figures, including the Civil Aviation Authority in the UK.
This potential danger is why more than 100 airline companies worldwide – including some of the biggest names in the industry – carry AvSax lithium battery fire mitigation bags which are now on board around 16,750 aircraft globally and have been deployed in action dozens of times.
AvSax were devised in the UK by Environmental Defence Systems Ltd based in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England.
EDS special projects manager Jessica Bailey said: “AvSax have been used to deal with all kinds of fires on board aircraft involving personal electronic devices such as iPads, mobile phones and laptops but this is the first time we know of a flashlight causing a fire incident on a plane.”
To find out how they work and for more information go to www.avsax.com
