Man blames house fire on lithium-ion battery, now he’s alerting other Las Vegas Valley residents

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - A Las Vegas Valley resident warns the danger of lithium-ion batteries after losing his entire home's backside in a fire last month.

Valley custom car builder and video creator Robert Moseley says the fire could have been prevented. He says it will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.

"You don't think it's going to happen to you until it does," he said.

In mid-October, Moseley's ring camera captured a fire growing on his patio as he and his wife unknowingly go about their night.

That same video captures his wife noticing the fire. She screams and runs to alert Moseley. He jumps into action, immediately running toward the fire, and trying to put it out with a garden hose.

The fire department arrives quickly and begins battling the fire. Crews saved Moseley's cat by performing CPR.

"He's starting to take some deeper breaths, there you go, he moved his paws a little bit," the responding fireman says as Moseley's cat, "Pooka," regains consciousness.

Firefighters are eventually able to extinguish the flames, but not before it destroys Moseley's back patio and office, and smoke damage seeps into his entire home.

"Moving forward when I rebuild, there's definitely going to be a lot of fire prevention that I'm going to do," he says.

Moseley believes the fire was started by his pool cleaner's lithium-ion battery that was charging on his back patio.

"I know that it was the pool cleaner because I could see it on video," he says. "What happens with these lithium-ion batteries is, if they overcharge they'll explode."

According to the National Fire Protection Association , lithium-ion batteries store a lot of energy in a small amount of space, meaning these fires grow quickly and can potentially cause explosions.

"I think what's important to me is trying to prevent this from happening to other people," Moseley says. "A lot of people have these things, they have e-bikes, they have scooters."

Moseley says anyone charging a lithium-ion battery device in or near their home should learn from what happened to him and take precautions of their own.

"This is going to keep happening," he says.

The National Fire Protection Association suggests charging large lithium-ion battery devices, like for an e-bike or e-scooter:

Outside and away from any structures

Not in direct sunlight

Do not charge a battery when the battery or charger is damaged

Do not store the batteries in extremely hot or cold locations

As for Moseley, he says once they rebuild, he is going to install more smoke detectors, even on the patio. He's also going to have fire extinguishers at every major doorway, and have a plan of action if this ever were to happen again.

Even though rebuilding is expected to take up to one year, he says he's mostly thankful his wife and cat are okay.

The Clark County Fire Department is investigating the cause of the fire, and did not confirm the fire's origin to FOX5.