A Single Battery May Have Caused Fire at Kent County Recycling Center

A stubborn fire inside a debris pile at a Kent County recycling center triggered a large emergency response Tuesday night.

The likely culprit? It could be something sitting in your junk drawer right now.

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Fire Inside Transfer Station

The fire broke out around 7:30 p.m. at the North Kent Transfer Station on 10 Mile Road in Rockford.

When the Plainfield Township Fire Department arrived, they found a substantial pile of debris burning inside the building. The sprinkler system was already running, but firefighters still had to deal with heavy smoke and a fire buried deep in the pile.

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Things escalated quickly. The call was upgraded to a structure fire and a second alarm was requested, bringing in additional firefighters from Rockford, Algoma, Alpine, Cannon, Sparta and Walker.

Excavator Helps Crews Access Fire

One of the more dramatic details from the response involved an excavator on site. Operators used the machine to pull apart the burning debris so firefighters could get at hot spots buried underneath. Without that, crews would have had a much harder time getting the fire completely out.

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The fire was under control in about an hour. Nobody was hurt, and damage to the building was limited thanks in part to the sprinkler system.

Lithium-Ion Battery Suspected

Investigators are still working to determine exactly what started the fire.

But Kent County Recycling & Waste says a lithium-ion battery is the likely source.

Lithium-ion batteries are everywhere. They're inside old phones, laptops, power tools, rechargeable vacuums, e-bikes and plenty of other gadgets that end up forgotten in drawers, garages and basements.

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When those batteries get tossed in the trash or recycling, they can be crushed during collection or processing. That damage can spark fires in garbage trucks, recycling centers, transfer stations and landfills.

According to Kent County officials, battery-related fires are becoming increasingly common. They remind residents to recycle lithium-ion batteries properly through a SafeChem drop-off site rather than tossing them in the trash or recycling bin.