Cheyenne Fire Rescue Warns Against Storing 9-Volt Batteries in Junk Drawer [VIDEO]
If you're like many, you probably changed your smoke alarm batteries when you set your clocks back Sunday, but if you tossed any unused 9-volt batteries in your junk drawer they could spark trouble.
Cheyenne Fire Rescue Interim Operations Division Chief Byron Mathews says 9-volts can be dangerous as the positive and negative posts are very close together.
"Whatever might be in that extra drawer -- paper clips, a spoon, a knife, a set of keys -- can arc across that battery and cause the potential for an accident and/or fire to occur," said Mathews.
"So what we want to try to do is make sure we keep the batteries in their original packaging, keep them someplace safe where they won't be tossed around and store them standing up," he added.
Mathews says even old 9-volts may have enough charge to cause a fire, so it's best to cover the posts with electrical tape and take the batteries to a collection site for household hazardous waste rather than throwing them in the trash.