Investigators have revealed what sparked the Boston fire linked to the line-of-duty death of firefighter Robert Kilduff Jr. Officials determined the Treadway Road fire was caused by thermal runaway in multiple lithium-ion batteries stored in plastic toolboxes.
Breaking news within the last hour, the fire that killed
a veteran Boston firefighter caused by lithium ion batteries.
Warbutt Kilduff Jr. died in the line of duty. That was back in May.
Boston 25 News reporter Daniel Coates live outside
of Boston Fire Headquarters.
Daniel, the fire commissioner talking about
the importance of storing those batteries safely.
Yeah, and he said that these precautions need to be well known because
his crews are responding more and more to lithium ion battery fires,
things that sparked just because they were maybe overheating.
And that was the case, investigators say,
in the fatal fire back in May. They believe that thermal runoff.
From some of these ion lithium batteries that were stored
in the back porch area of a Dorchester home led to that large response
to the three alarm fire that sadly led to the death
of longtime firefighter Robert Kilduff Jr. These are some
of the images, the videos that our crews ran into five months ago.
Robert Kilduff Jr., also known as BK, fell through a third floor porch
while battling this three alarm fire on Dorchester's Treadway Road.
About five months ago, as I mentioned, he was rushed
to Boston Medical Center but was pronounced dead shortly later.
His friends and colleagues raved about him.
And the investigators say ion lithium batteries were improperly stored
in a plastic toolbox in the home's back-end porch
that led to that huge response and BK's death.
This has been an ongoing investigation into the cause of this fire.
Investigators say that has closed now.
Fire Commissioner Rodney Marshall spoke about how
Today, we want to emphasize the importance
of lithium-ion battery safety.
These batteries must be charged, handled,
and stored in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations
and established safety guidelines.
Improper charging or storage can create serious fire hazards.
And investigators also say that each household,
maybe without even knowing, has about a dozen of
these lithium ion batteries.
The most important advice that investigators gave was to use the
battery that is meant for whatever device you're charging.
He said often those batteries overheat
when they're used for something
that they're not supposed to be used for.
Again, these are two separate investigations.
The closed investigation is on what led to the fire.
That's what we learned today during that press conference.
An investigation is still going into the death of BK.
On scene in Boston, I'm Daniel Coates
for Local Station, Boston 25 News.
Okay, so major updates to that fatal fire. Daniel, thank you.
