Hillsborough County announced in December an increase of lithium batteries in the County’s waste stream. The increase is leading to what the county calls “hot loads.” These are battery-induced fires that occur when batteries are compressed with each other in garbage and recycling trucks. The compression creates a spark. Then, the spark leads to a fire. “We have all this flammable material like paper and plastics in the back of a truck,” explained Daniel Gallagher, project manager with Hillsborough County. “It’s a recipe for a major disaster, and so it can be really scary and dangerous for these drivers, our infrastructure and the community.” Over the last three years, the county has recorded 30 battery-induced fires. Fifteen of those happened in 2025 alone. Officials expect the trend to continue growing. According to Gallagher, battery-production is a booming industry. He says the industry was worth about 20 billion in dollars in 2020. By 2024, that amount had doubled. For this y...