The City of Jacksonville is issuing a safety warning after a lithium battery likely sparked a fire inside a trash collection truck on Friday.
City officials say these batteries become extremely dangerous when they are crushed or punctured by heavy equipment. When compressed inside a truck, they can easily ignite, putting sanitation workers at risk and causing expensive damage to city vehicles.
Lithium and rechargeable batteries are strictly banned from all household trash and recycling carts. This includes batteries for power tools, laptops, cell phones, and even small button cells.
People are asked to take all used batteries to approved drop-off locations. Local recycling sites can be found at batterynetwork.org.
