A CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) charger fire Friday morning led to some scary moments for the owners of Forest Avenue home.
After a fire erupted in the CPAP's lithium battery charger in the living room, the home's two occupants were able to escape.
However, because the woman "didn’t have her phone on hand, she drove to the fire hall to report the fire," Orillia Fire Chief Michael Clark told OrilliaMatters.
He said the fire "caused considerable damage" but it was too early to provide a dollar estimate of the damage.
Fire crews from Rama, Ramara and Severn Township "assisted with tanker water supply" to fight the blaze, said Clark. Rama First Nation also provided firefighters to help quell the fire.
Clark said one of the home's occupants suffered "a minor burn to his arm." He also said one firefighter went to the hospital with a cut that may require stitches.
This is the second lithium battery charger fire Orillia firefighters have had to contend with in recent days.
Last Friday night, two charged ebikes, stored outside a ground-floor unit of a Barrie Road apartment building, erupted in flames, causing almost $40,000 in damages.
After that fire, Orillia Deputy Fire Chief Chris Ferry said fires involving anything with a lithium-ion battery are "harder to extinguish and take large volumes of water to extinguish and cool."
He noted that even once such a fire is extinguished, "we have to continually cool the batteries as they can generate heat and smoulder for extended periods of time."
Ferry said battery-powered cars and trucks can take upwards of 30,000 gallons of water to extinguish and cool.
