I feared for my life: waste workers call for action as battery fire risks surge

Posted on: January 20, 2025

A City of Swan waste truck driver narrowly escaped a fiery ordeal recently when his vehicle was engulfed in flames, likely to be sparked by a lithium-ion battery.

The truck had been passing a primary school when it ignited, and the driver, having leapt to safety, could only watch on as firefighters arrived to extinguish the flames before it could spread any further.

Steve Goddard, a City of Swan side loader operator, reflected on the number of recent battery fires in waste trucks across the country.

“I’ve been driving waste trucks for 30 years… and it is quite daunting when you see the flames in the rear-view mirror.”

“If you thought about it every day, the potential dangers we face on a regular basis… it would be hard to get up and come in. I fear for my life sometimes,” he said.

“It really hits home how dangerous these types of fires can be when you see how close the truck is to the school when it went up — the situation could have been much worse, and the school would have had to be evacuated.”

This alarming incident is just one of thousands across Australia each year — a problem firefighters and waste industry experts largely attribute to the growing prevalence of lithium-ion batteries making their way into household bins.

Commonplace in items like toys, phones, and other electronics, batteries pose a risk when incorrectly discarded.

Lithium battery fires are not just a transport issue. They can start during the various stages of waste management — from landfills to recycling centres.

Denisa Juklova, a pre-sort cabin operator for Resource Recovery Group has worked at recycling centres for seven years and takes pride in the work she does sorting recyclable material from across Perth.

She recounted a close call of her own at the material recovery facility in Canning Vale where she works.

“The fire came over the conveyor and into the cabin so quickly,” she said.

“With all that paper and plastic surrounding the battery, the fire could have been a disaster — the battery could have exploded and the whole plant could have burnt down.”

“I was so relieved that my colleague Selva Kamalan was able to extinguish the fire quickly and he was ok.”

According to Denisa, these occurrences are not uncommon.

“I have seen more than 100 battery fires in my time working in this industry,” she said.

“I love what I do but I worry about myself and my co-workers — we all just want to go home safely at the end of a day at work.”

Batteries are the source of at least three fires a week in WA and the dangers they pose to workers in the industry, waste processing infrastructure and the community are a nationwide concern.

The solution is simple — take unwanted batteries and items with batteries inside, like mobile phones and laptops, to a dedicated drop-off location.

Residents can join the tens of thousands of Western Australians already taking their batteries to their nearest drop-off location.