[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:12] Hi, I'm Kelly Murphy-Rangate, fire marshal and public educator for the Excelsior Fire District, and welcome
[0:17] to First Responder TV, your local public safety source, featuring training exercises, safety
[0:22] tips, and much more. Here's what's coming up on First Responder TV.
[0:26] I'll talk with Becky Rowan from the U.L. Research Institute about the take charge of battery
[0:30] safety campaign. Scam alert will give you updates on scams that have been targeting citizens
[0:36] in a lake area. From the vault, we'll revisit informative First Responder TV segments from
[0:41] past. Joining me now is Becky Rowan from the UL Research Institute. Thank you for joining us Becky.
[0:48] Please tell us about your journey through the fire service where it's taken you and how you
[0:52] ended up at UL. So I started as a firefighter in 2003. I was also an elementary teacher at the time,
[0:59] so education and joined as an inperry fire at the time and stayed with them for about 17 years,
[1:06] making my way up through the ranks and then I left to the classroom and went to the Minnesota State
[1:11] environmental division and work there as a fire safety educator. I started with the
[1:15] fire safety research institute through UL doing work on education messaging and
[1:21] outreach to the public and then now I'm with the UL Research Institute's Office
[1:26] of Research Experience and Education as a K-12 program manager. So we actually have
[1:30] five research institutes. The fire safety research institute is one of them and they
[1:36] do all sorts of research on a lot of different public health related things and
[1:40] and we take their really cool information and turn it into information for teachers and students
[1:47] to use in the classroom. How did the take charge of battery safety campaign start,
[1:54] like what part of UL did that come from? Well UL in general saw kind of an uptick in the number
[2:01] of lithium ion battery-related fires. They've actually been collecting data all the way back to 1995,
[2:06] And then in the, you know, like 2,000 teens, you know, 13, 14, it started, the incident
[2:13] started climbing and then in the 20s, 2,020, 2021, 22, it started climbing more because of the
[2:21] access to the things. So as these fires were increasing, people were reaching out to the fire,
[2:25] safety, research, and institute for resources and information on how to extinguish the fires,
[2:32] how to promote safety around batteries and so the fire safety research institute then conducted a survey
[2:40] of all the fire service around the country and asked, what problems are you seeing, you know,
[2:45] where can we help you and in that there was a lack of education around lithium-ion batteries
[2:54] and how what should people even do with them and what do we do when there's a fire. So the fire safety
[2:59] Research Institute came up with a take charge campaign.
[3:02] So take charge is an acronym.
[3:04] CH-A-R-G-E has the different elements
[3:06] of education safety around lithium-ion batteries.
[3:10] When did the uptick occur?
[3:12] And what was related to that uptick?
[3:15] Where what happened to create that increase?
[3:18] Right around the COVID times when people were at their home
[3:22] and doing most of their shopping online,
[3:23] it seems that that's where more incidents are happening.
[3:26] There isn't specific research that point specifically to that, but it's around that same time
[3:32] that 2021-22 timeframe.
[3:37] And most of it's because, you know, as people are going into stores and buying products, stores often will fill their shelves with things that are certified,
[3:46] you know, because you're buying it from that company as well as, you know, the company that produces it.
[3:52] When you're doing searches online, you don't really know where those products are coming from
[3:57] and or if they've been certified at all.
[4:00] So even if you do, which I do every time I search working for UL, UL certified, you know,
[4:07] charger, you won't necessarily get one that is certified by UL because the online stores
[4:13] don't tag products that way.
[4:15] So they'll give you responses based on the words they do tag.
[4:18] charger is the only one in that line, that phrasing, that they tag. Some of our viewers might not even
[4:24] understand what that UL means on a product. Can you explain how something gets a UL logo or
[4:33] symbol on it, right? So UL standards and engagement go through the process of writing standards
[4:40] and they have a whole panel of people that work on an industry experts, researchers, a whole committee of
[4:47] and they go through and determine what tests need to be conducted on something in order for it to be considered safe.
[4:54] And then, so then that's just the standard.
[4:57] And then you have a testing company like UL, but there are others that will come in and test the products to those standards.
[5:05] So, in the case of lithium-ion batteries, they do what's called a crushed test.
[5:09] It's set up in a certain way that's very safe and they'll put the battery in this compartment
[5:14] And then they'll apply a certain amount of pressure and pay attention to how the battery reacts to that pressure and at what point it will.
[5:21] Puncture or explode if it starts to fire, how violent is the fire?
[5:25] There's all of these things.
[5:26] That's just one of a multitude of tests that things have to go through in order to get that UL stamp on it.
[5:33] So the UL with the circle around it is when something has been tested by UL laboratories to a UL standard.
[5:39] So, you know it safe, and all of those tests, you can find online the specifics for each
[5:46] test.
[5:47] We also have some videos on our Explore Labs website that show students what these tests
[5:52] are and what the parameters are, so that they can see how things are tested.
[5:56] So, I know as a fire inspector and a fire educator, you want to purchase items that have
[6:02] a UL label or another institute, you don't want to just buy a generic product, and that
[6:08] applies to everything, including lithium ion batteries, right? Yeah, so it really
[6:13] anything that has any kind of power source to it or some kind of risk of
[6:18] safety or harm to an individual should be going through some kind of
[6:22] testing for us, it's anything electrical or battery, which has kind of
[6:28] electrical components in it. So, a very common phrase a lot of us use in the
[6:33] industry is you want to follow the manufacturer's instructions, and those
[6:37] come from the UL testing is where some of that comes from.
[6:40] Yeah, a lot of times you'll see lithium-ion battery-related fires come from charging, right?
[6:45] That's usually where the fault is occurring in those cases.
[6:48] It's because, you know, somebody's charger or charger cable will, you know, break or stop working.
[6:55] And so they'll go to an aftermarket thing and they'll buy a charger and you have all the choices.
[7:01] And there's one that's, you know, $40 cheaper than all the other ones.
[7:05] And economically, you think, well, if they do the same things, that's the one I'm going to get.
[7:09] And so they get that one.
[7:11] The problem is that every charger and every device has, they do what's called a handshake.
[7:17] And they fit together a certain way.
[7:19] And if you're using a charger that's not compatible with the device itself,
[7:24] that handshake will get disrupted.
[7:27] And potentially could overcharge.
[7:30] Or it could cause a fault in the charging, which then makes the device or the battery itself go into a thermal runaway, which you can't stop, right, and that's part of the process.
[7:42] And so having something that is compatible and, you know, spending the extra money to buy the actual charger for that device is really important.
[7:49] Because there's elements in the device, and there's elements in the charger, and it's made to not overcharge.
[7:57] It's made to stop or pause when it gets to a certain point.
[8:00] So making sure that those things all fit together, that you're buying the right charger for the right device,
[8:06] and that you're not going for what's cheaper, because they are not the same.
[8:10] Even though they look like they're the same, they look like they have the same components and do the same things.
[8:16] There's a reason why. There's a difference in price and a lot of that is based on the testing and that handshake buying the actual product is worth it
[8:25] Absolutely. It's worth the safety. Absolutely. So developing the take the charge of fire safety battery campaign
[8:32] Where did that start and where did the acronym come from?
[8:37] So when we did our initial like literature review on what's out there on for safety and for resources for the fire service and for the public on
[8:46] with the MI and batteries, there were a lot of gaps.
[8:50] So we decided we're going to have to have multi-message campaign, the charge, CHAR GE was
[8:57] actually chosen first.
[9:00] And then we had to think about, okay, well, how are we going to use these letters because it
[9:05] makes sense with the campaign to use the word charge?
[9:08] And so we had to think about short phrases that are impactful, that are action-oriented, that
[9:15] positive in nature because you don't want to tell somebody not to do something because they're
[9:19] just going to remember the thing in that part. And we wanted it to go in order of purchase
[9:26] to kind of the end of life of the battery. So there were a lot of kind of things in place
[9:30] when we came up with it. So it took a while, but we came up with two certified products, which we've
[9:36] already talked about. It's very important. We would say you well, but there are other certifications
[9:40] out there as well and then age is handled with care. So when you have your device, you want
[9:45] to make sure that you're storing it in a, you know, it's not too hot or not too cold for
[9:50] us and then a sort of extreme temperatures are bad and then, you know, making sure that you're
[9:54] keeping it stored in a place that's not going to get crushed or broken in any way. A is always
[9:59] tailored for warning signs. So if you hear a strange hissing or it's starting to swell a little
[10:04] bit or you smell something strange, those are like the first steps and lithium-ion battery
[10:10] fires are very fast. We usually have less than a minute to react. And so anytime you hear or see
[10:17] something, you need to stop using that charger or that device and you need to get it ideally
[10:22] outside and find a way to recycle or dispose of it properly. Do not just throw it in the garbage when
[10:31] you think, you know, oh this looks like it doesn't work any moment throw it in the garbage because then
[10:35] someone down the road will end up with the problem, right?
[10:38] So, recycle is our recycle properly.
[10:41] So that goes to the same thing.
[10:43] One of our research institutes has a website called
[10:46] BNICE2Device.org and on that website,
[10:50] you can see where the closest recycling place is
[10:54] for lithium ion batteries and lithium ion battery devices
[10:57] because sometimes the batteries like part
[11:00] of the device and you can't separate it.
[11:02] And then G is get out quickly.
[11:04] if you see signs of a fire.
[11:06] So ideally you'd remove the battery or the device,
[11:09] but if it has started smoking,
[11:11] you're not moving that.
[11:13] It's going to probably explode or have, you know,
[11:16] fire.
[11:17] Shooting on it very fast.
[11:19] So remove yourself.
[11:21] And that's also why we tell people not to charge
[11:24] e-scooters or things like that in their houses
[11:27] or in their entryways or in their path of egress.
[11:30] Because if you're trying to get out,
[11:32] can't get past it either. So get out quickly if you see or hear signs of
[11:38] impending fire and then E is educate others because it's really important when
[11:42] you have that knowledge to let other people know about the dangers and the ways
[11:47] to combat the issue. And as a fire investigator that's one reason I wanted to
[11:54] invite Becky today is because we see up in the Excelsior Fire District where you
[11:59] there are lithium ion battery fires and they occur way more often than people
[12:05] realize. So let's talk about the website. Yeah our take charge website is called
[12:11] batteryfiresafe.org and when you go to it up in the top corner the first
[12:15] responders tab has a toolkit in there. It's basically resources that you can
[12:20] add your department logo to or you can just print off as it is or you can order
[12:25] printed supplies and the only thing you're paying for is the printing and
[12:28] But it has all of the details, it has, you know, incidents, numbers in the past year.
[12:34] It has the elements of the take charge, educational pieces that we've already talked about.
[12:40] There's just really a lot, there's little postcards you can use if you want smaller things to print.
[12:46] There's the larger things you can use MSPDFs.
[12:48] And whatever you want, it's meant for the fire service to use for the public.
[12:53] So, if you want to cater it more, then just reach out to the Fire Safety Research Institute
[12:58] and they will help you get whatever you need.
[13:00] There's also a presentation on there that you can download and then you can use elements
[13:04] of it in your own outreach.
[13:06] And I will also add, for firefighters or public educator, where this is kind of a new avenue,
[13:13] it really educates you on lithium ion battery fires, so it's a great educational piece.
[13:18] Right. So let's talk about some of the awards the campaign has won. Take charge has won two major
[13:28] national awards. One of them I was able to attend, which was very cool. It was in Times Square. It was
[13:35] called a Stevie Award, so it was the American Business Association's Public Safety Campaign of the Year award,
[13:41] and they were giving out like gold silver bronze awards, but they only gave the gold award
[13:48] us and there were no silver and bronze awards. So it was actually kind of neat because everyone voted for
[13:55] our campaign and there were no other awards given. So yeah, it was really cool to be part of.
[14:02] They also were nominated for several other outreach and public safety awards and campaign
[14:09] of the year awards that we were finalists for as well. That's fantastic. Now have we missed anything?
[14:16] is there anything else you want to share with our viewers that we might have not talked about today?
[14:20] Yeah, just making sure that you are following those steps of take charge and that, you know,
[14:25] you are aware of all of the devices. So when we get on airplanes and they say,
[14:30] do you have any lithium-ion battery? Things in your luggage, please take it out and bring it with you
[14:35] on your carry on. Just making sure that you start paying attention to where all these things.
[14:41] I mean, your electric toothbrush has a lithium-ion battery in it. Again, most of our
[14:46] shoes come with charging. So, making sure that you're buying the right charger for the right
[14:51] device and that you're charging it in a safe manner and not, you know, plugging it into
[14:56] an aftermarket charger and sticking it in your purse on the bottom where you're...
[15:00] Now there's all sorts of other things or the bottom of your gym bag or whatever, where you can have other issues.
[15:05] And then, yeah, just I would say go to the websites and check out the material and educate yourself and others on the different safety elements.
[15:12] Yeah, and I will say on the fires that we have had in the social fire district have been in the garage and it's been tools charging.
[15:19] So it's like, it does happen. And once you do realize where they are everywhere, everywhere, it's kind of overwhelming because you're like, wow, there's a lot of them in there everywhere.
[15:28] So thank you so much. This was such an important interview to do. So much great great information. Thanks for joining us back.
[15:36] Thanks for having me.
[16:04] Eyes forward. Don't drive distracted.
[16:08] Welcome back to First Respondor TV. It's time for Scamolert.
[16:11] This segment alerts the public on scams that have been reported to local police departments.
[16:25] In impersonation scams, a scammer reaches out to you,
[16:28] pretending to be someone you trust to get sensitive information,
[16:31] like social security numbers, bank information, or account details.
[16:36] Scammers change tactics quickly, making them hard to detect.
[16:40] Scammers have been sending emails posing as Amazon
[16:43] and include PDF attachments stating that your account will be suspended or on hold.
[16:48] These attachments prompt you to click on a fraudulent link to update your account.
[16:53] These links lure you to provide personal information such as payment information
[16:57] or account login credentials.
[16:59] Do not click on any links or provide your information without verifying the email or link.
[17:05] Amazon will never ask you to provide payment information for products or services over the phone.
[17:11] Scammers try to create a sense of urgency to persuade you to do what they're asking.
[17:16] Be wary anytime someone tries to convince you that you must act now.
[17:20] Review the link for misspellings or repeated characters.
[17:23] In your web browser, hover over the display name under from to see the full sender address.
[17:29] Always go through the Amazon mobile app or website when seeking customer service,
[17:34] tech support, or when looking to make changes to your account.
[17:37] If you receive a call, text, or email that you think may not be from Amazon,
[17:41] please report it at www.amazon.com slash report a scam.
[17:47] West Hennepin Public Safety Department recently received numerous reports about fishing and
[17:53] scam attempts to residents.
[17:55] Colors had been impersonating officers in public defenders.
[17:59] They use family members and create horrific stories trying to get you to pay their bail.
[18:04] West Hennepin Public Safety wants the public to be aware and stay diligent.
[18:09] Criminal justice agencies will not call you to ask for money.
[18:12] Once the callers are questioned about their credentials and accused of being scammers, they disconnect the call.
[18:18] The phone numbers used are fake.
[18:20] They use apps to disguise their phone numbers and can even use your family members,
[18:24] or other familiar phone numbers to try to scam you.
[18:27] If you are a victim of one of these scams or receive a suspicious phone call,
[18:32] please call the West Hennepin Public Safety Department office at 763-479-0500,
[18:39] so these incidents can be documented.
[18:41] The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office has been informed of recent warrant scams targeting
[18:46] Hennepin County residents.
[18:48] Be aware that the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office does not email or fax copies of
[18:53] warrant or subpoenas or call for payment.
[18:56] Scammers pose as law enforcement by demanding payment for a miscourt date, jury duty,
[19:01] or other legal matter, and threatening to arrest you unless you pay the fine.
[19:05] Remember, cops don't call for cash.
[19:08] Law enforcement never calls or emails you about paying them money.
[19:12] If you receive a suspicious phone call or message, do not provide your personal information.
[19:18] Instead, search the official phone number of the agency the caller mentioned and contact
[19:22] that office directly.
[19:27] We said we'd never break the three-second rule.
[19:30] never do that and never become a minivian mom. As parents we say never a lot
[19:39] but never happens.
[19:47] So when you say you'd never leave a child in a hot car
[19:50] no it can happen. Before you leave the car always stop look lock. Coming up here's a
[19:58] first responder TV segment from the vault.
[20:06] We like to spotlight a member of the
[20:09] and our segment making a difference.
[20:11] This month, it's Ornals Community Service Dog,
[20:14] Search Seas.
[20:22] Have you ever had a bad day just heading a dog?
[20:25] No, say, because dogs make everything better.
[20:28] Searches works for us at the Ornal Police Department.
[20:31] He's what we're calling our Community Service Dog.
[20:34] He's a partnership, a private partnership.
[20:36] We have with can-do canines.
[20:38] We met, and it was kind of a match between us and can-do.
[20:41] Search Seas was actually trained
[20:43] as a medical mobility assist dog.
[20:45] But Xerxes was just a little bit too spunky, so they wanted to find something else for them.
[20:50] I do a large amount of community outreach with Xerxes.
[20:53] I believe that one positive police interaction, it fosters a second positive police interaction.
[20:58] So a lot of times you only get to meet officers when you're having a really bad day.
[21:03] My goal every day when I bring Xerxes to work is I try to meet between three and five people
[21:08] that I wouldn't normally talk to.
[21:10] He acts as a fantastic breaker of barriers.
[21:12] We walk around wearing our police uniforms and our duty belts and drive squad cars and we can be kind of intimidating and when you have a cute lab
[21:20] Who just wants to say hi? He acts as an awesome buffer for that. He can tell if you're mad. He can tell if you're sad. He can tell if you're angry
[21:27] One of the things that we've kind of trained search to do is it's just be a calm presence in a room
[21:32] Zerksy's went from living in a prison to working for a police department
[21:35] They use six different prisons throughout Minnesota, and they actually have the inmates in the prison
[21:41] help train the dogs. So the inmates get to do something really good and really positive that's actually
[21:46] going to be helping somebody down the road. It's not every situation, but there's certain ones
[21:50] that I can apply to Xerxes and when it's safe for officers as well as the the persons that
[21:55] we're attempting to help if speaking with us with him present helps calm a situation or gives us
[22:00] common ground it's another tool on our belt. We carry these belts that are full of tools and
[22:05] I consider him just another one. So Xerxes doesn't find drugs. He doesn't sniff out bad
[22:11] guys. His only job is to make people feel better. One of the things that we
[22:15] taught him to do was just do a simple visit and it's just resting his head
[22:18] on your knee. Whether that be for an officer who was just at a traumatic
[22:22] collar, maybe an elderly person who's been in a facility and just wants some
[22:27] care and comfort and some visitors and some compassion.
[22:30] The stage is like this and there's just something about having a dog kneeling on your lap.
[22:33] We want to be very approachable to everybody. The more that we can talk, the more you get to know about us, the more we get to know about you and the easier it is for us to help you.
[22:41] I just say one of the most surprising things is just how willing people actually are to come up and speak with you.
[22:47] He just acts as just an awesome tool for that. I can guarantee that I've had conversations with people and learned about suspicious activity or ongoing in a neighborhood that I know I wouldn't have if I wasn't walking around with a black lab.
[23:07] Thank you for watching First Respondor TV, your local public safety source.
[23:11] If you have an idea for a segment, an upcoming fire prevention or life safety event, please
[23:15] let us know.
[23:16] This is Kelly Murphy Rangate giving you information you can use, share, and live by.
[23:21] See you next time.