Lithium fire - what would you do?

I was on a commercial flight a week ago where a lithium battery caught fire – I didn’t even know till we landed at Bilbao and there were a bunch of emergency vehicles. The crew apparently put the device (an e-cigarette, so likely a small battery) in some kind of fireproof box and put the fireproof box in the aft lav (where there is a smoke detector) and monitored it.

With these things, they should simply be banned from airplanes altogether and basically also taken out of circulation, which of course means it is the end of the mobile phone and laptop industry until something better comes along. But in airplanes I am starting to believe that the risk is simply too high with those devices, particularly as there are literally hundreds of them on board every airliner these days.

Mooney_Driver wrote:

the risk is simply too high with those devices

How many people have died because of battery fires in aircraft? I have only heard of some freight aircraft being lost. Other risks seem to completely dwarf this one.

I guess it is just a new risk, it my not necessarily a relevant risk but some just get sensitive about the former?

Obviously with cockpit electric/avionics failures, especially in weather, anyone would beg “to fire” his portable tablet and his hand held radio?

How many have used their cell phones with dark GA cockpits? (on a quick search, I can find 10 incidents reports)

Mooney_Driver wrote:

I am starting to believe that the risk is simply too high with those devices

A belief not backed up by fact, given the complete lack of fatal accidents since these things have been around for several years.

Cobalt wrote:

complete lack of fatal accidents

Not quite — but that’s the only one I know of.

There is a bit of difference between carrying 81,000 batteries as cargo in an inaccessible space, which will doom the aircraft if one goes off and the aircraft cannot land quickly, and individual items carried in the cabin.

Mooney_Driver wrote:

With these things, they should simply be banned from airplanes altogether and basically also taken out of circulation

I need a new handheld radio because my old ICOM no longer works properly and without 8,33 I`m not able to monitor ATIS at some airports anymore.
The manufacturers ICOM and YAESU use LIPO batteries for the new devices. If LIPO batteries are already used for cell phones and laptops, I would not like to use dangerous batteries for a new radio. The manufacturers should be aware of the potential problems with LIPO batteries especially in the aircraft.
Or have I missed something?