If you get a lithium-ion battery powered item for Christmas, charge it regularly.
Otherwise, the battery becomes more susceptible to deterioration, making it more likely to catch fire the next time it is charges.
That is the advice of the Ashburton Volunteer Fire Brigade, which attended a lithium-ion battery fire on Monday in a home at Hampstead about 2.30am.
Chief Jeff Marshall said the battery was in a drone that had not been used for about two years.
‘‘The problem is with lithium batteries, the metals in them, when they are left flat, degrade. And when you go to charge them, that’s when they go on fire,’’ Marshall said.
He said fortunately the person charging the drone was awake at the time and noticed smoke coming from it, so was able to take it outside.
He advised charging them every three months or so.
The batteries are in all sorts of items, from phones, laptops and vapes, to drones, e-bikes and electric cars.
The bigger the battery, the bigger the potential fire.
The batteries are prone to thermal runaway, a type of fire which is self-sustaining, keeps getting hotter, and is difficult to extinguish.
Meanwhile at Rakaia, it was a case of deja vu for Rakaia Volunteer Fire Brigade members about 7.30am Tuesday.
Just like in April this year, they were called to a stuck horse.
Deputy chief Fred Clarkson said the horse had rolled or fallen into a shallow ditch, on a Rakaia farm.
A vet was called to the scene and sedated the animal, so it would not get stressed. Within 15 minutes, firefighters had attached a harness and used a rescue vehicle to winch it out.
‘‘It was pretty straightforward,’’ Clarkson said. ‘‘The horse stood up as soon as we got it out, so it was marvellous.’’
The rescue follows a similar, but more complicated one, in April.
The gelding, named Ice, was rescued from a pit so deep only his ears had been showing out the top. It took an-hour-anda-half in that case, working alongside others to free him.
