NFPA has set the Fire Prevention Week 2026 theme as “Charge into Fire Safety: Safe Charging Is a Superpower,” running October 4-10, 2026, and focused on the proper charging, storage, and use of lithium-ion powered devices — phones, laptops, power tools, e-bikes, and scooters.
The campaign is aimed at a hazard that arrived in homes faster than the habits around it did. Most households now hold a dozen or more lithium-ion cells, and the ones that cause fires are rarely the ones people think of as batteries.
Why lithium-ion fires behave differently
A lithium-ion cell failure is not a normal household fire, and the differences drive every piece of NFPA’s guidance.
Thermal runaway is self-sustaining. Once a cell goes into runaway, it generates its own heat and its own oxygen-bearing decomposition products. It does not need ambient oxygen the way a wood fire does, which is why smothering does not reliably work and why a cell can reignite after appearing to be out.
It propagates cell to cell. A battery pack contains many cells. One in runaway heats its neighbours until they follow, which is why a failing pack can produce repeated flare-ups over several minutes rather than a single event.
The vented gas is flammable and toxic. Cells vent before or during runaway, releasing gases that can ignite and that are hazardous to breathe in an enclosed room.
Failure is often delayed. A pack damaged by a drop, a puncture, or overheating may work normally for days or weeks before failing. The event that causes the fire and the fire itself can be far apart in time, which is why “it was fine yesterday” is not evidence of a healthy pack.
The practical consequence: prevention matters far more here than response. A lithium-ion pack fire in a living space is not something a household extinguisher reliably solves.
The charging rules, and the reasoning behind each
NFPA’s core messages for 2026 are specific. Each maps to a real failure mode.
Use the charger and cable that came with the device, or a manufacturer-approved replacement. Incompatible chargers can deliver the wrong voltage or defeat the charge-control circuitry, damaging cells in ways that do not show up immediately. Cheap uncertified replacements are the common thread in a large share of incidents.
Charge on a hard, flat surface — a table, a desk, a counter. Not on a bed, a couch, a pillow, or under a blanket. Soft surfaces trap heat around a pack that is already warming, and they are themselves fuel if the pack fails.
Do not charge unattended overnight, particularly for large packs: e-bikes, scooters, power tools, and portable power stations. If a failure happens at 3 a.m. in a hallway, the outcome depends on smoke alarms, not on you.
Charge away from exits. This one is under-taught and matters most for e-bikes and scooters, which are commonly stored in an entryway or hallway. A pack failing in the only path out of an apartment turns a survivable fire into a trapped one. Charge and store large packs where a failure does not block egress — and never in a stairwell.
Unplug when charged. Leaving a device at 100% on the charger keeps the pack at high state of charge and warm, which accelerates degradation.
Keep packs at moderate temperature. Do not charge or store in a hot car, in direct sun, or in an unheated space in winter. Charging a cell below freezing causes lithium plating, which permanently damages it and raises the risk of an internal short.
The household audit
Fire Prevention Week is a useful excuse to do this once. Walk the house and inventory what actually contains a lithium-ion cell — the list is longer than most people expect.
Phones, tablets, laptops. Power banks. Cordless tool batteries and their chargers. Robot vacuums. Cordless stick vacuums. E-bikes and scooters. Hoverboards. Wireless earbuds and their cases. Handheld gaming devices. Portable power stations. Electric toothbrushes and shavers. Kids’ ride-on toys. Rechargeable flashlights and headlamps — including the ones in your emergency kit. Battery-powered smoke alarm backups. Drones. Dashcams.
For each, check three things:
- Is the pack physically sound? Look for swelling, a bulging case, a lid that no longer sits flush, dents, punctures, discoloration, or a chemical smell. A swollen pack is a failing pack. Stop using it.
- Is it charging on a hard surface, away from exits, attended?
- Is the charger the original or a certified replacement?
Any device that gets unusually hot in normal use, charges erratically, or has been dropped hard deserves retirement rather than monitoring.
Where the emergency kit intersects
Preparedness kits have quietly become lithium-ion storage. Rechargeable lanterns, headlamps, power banks, and portable power stations all live in the same bin, often in a garage that swings from below freezing to well over 100°F.
That storage environment is the problem. Temperature extremes degrade cells, and a kit is checked twice a year at best, so a swelling pack sits unnoticed. Two adjustments:
- Store rechargeable kit items in conditioned space, not the garage or shed. If the kit lives in the garage, keep the lithium items indoors and note it on the kit list.
- Keep at least one light and one radio that run on standard disposable batteries, stored with the cells outside the device. Alkaline cells tolerate the storage abuse that lithium packs do not, and the failure mode is a leak rather than a fire. Our 72-hour kit guide covers the light and information layers in more depth.
Storing at roughly 40-60% charge is better for long-term pack health than storing full or empty. For a power bank that sits for six months, that is the difference between a usable pack and a swollen one.
If a pack fails
The realistic guidance is short, because the options are limited.
Get everyone out and call the fire department. A pack in thermal runaway is not a DIY extinguishment. Do not attempt to carry a burning or venting device outside — most serious injuries in these incidents happen while someone is holding the device.
If a pack is swelling, hissing, or hot but not yet burning, and you can do it safely, move it to a noncombustible surface away from anything flammable — a concrete floor, outside on gravel — and keep away from it. Do not put it in water. Do not put it in the trash.
Working smoke alarms are the actual control. Alarms on every level, inside and outside sleeping areas, tested and within service life. That is what converts an overnight pack failure into an evacuation instead of a casualty.
Dispose of damaged packs properly. Never in household trash or curbside recycling — battery fires in collection trucks and sorting facilities are a well-documented and growing problem. Take them to a hazardous waste facility or a retailer battery take-back program.
FAQ
When is Fire Prevention Week 2026?
October 4-10, 2026. The 2026 theme is “Charge into Fire Safety: Safe Charging Is a Superpower,” focused on lithium-ion battery charging, storage, and use.
Is it safe to charge my phone overnight on a nightstand?
A phone on a hard nightstand with its original charger is low risk, and it is the large packs — e-bikes, scooters, power stations, tool batteries — where unattended overnight charging carries real consequence. The habits worth keeping for a phone: hard surface, not under a pillow or in bedding, original or certified charger.
What do I do with a swollen battery?
Stop using it immediately, do not puncture or compress it, and do not put it in the trash or curbside recycling. Move it to a noncombustible surface away from flammables if you can do so safely, and take it to a household hazardous waste facility or a retailer take-back program.
Does a regular fire extinguisher work on a lithium-ion fire?
Not reliably. A standard ABC extinguisher may knock down burning surrounding material, but it does not stop thermal runaway inside a pack, and adjacent cells can continue to fail and reignite. The correct response in a home is evacuation and a 911 call, not extinguishment.