Brad Oskin doesn’t remember much about the night of Nov. 16, 2025, but it’s not etched in his mind in the worst way.
At 9:16 p.m., security cameras at Brad’s home in White House, Tennessee, alerted Brad and his wife, Melissa, that their back deck was on fire. He grabbed a fire extinguisher and put it out, then watched the flames jump 12 feet to the roof.
“I’ve never seen a fire like this,” Brad told Nashville’s WSMV (1).
Within 20 minutes, the house was gone. Brad, Melissa and their 13-year-old grandson escaped with only the clothes on their backs. After 36 years of marriage, everything they owned was reduced to ashes.
For Melissa, the worst loss was irreparable. “Your video, we can’t run upstairs and grab something,” she told WSMV. “Those are the moments you can’t get back because you can’t hear the kids’ voices anymore.”
Months later, the couple learned why.
There was no electricity, natural gas or other reliable source of fire outside the deck, according to local fire investigators and an independent forensic firm hired by Oskins Insurance Company. They determined the fire was most consistent with a lithium-ion battery malfunction — inside a small decorative solar light.
Brad purchased the solar lights on Amazon: 10-pack, brand WdtPro, model TDL012, marketed as “Outdoor Solar Lights, IP65 Waterproof.” The listing makes no mention that they contain lithium-ion batteries. Bullard discovered this after dissecting one of the remaining lamps in the package, which was confirmed by White House fire investigator Josh Wright.
These lights are not UL, ETL or CSA certified, which means they have never been tested by an accredited safety laboratory. Most WdtPro products appear to be made in China. The listing is now marked “Currently Unavailable”.
Wright told WSMV this was a first for him: “I’ve never seen anything caused by sunlight that had a lithium-ion battery in it.”
This may be the first time garden lights have damaged a home, but cheap lithium lights have caused deaths before. In 2024, Good Earth Lighting recalled 1.2 million rechargeable lights, including one linked to a consumer death, after the lithium-ion batteries inside the lights overheated, causing six fires and causing property damage.
The Oskins home fire may have been blamed first on solar garden lights, but it’s part of a larger and growing problem.
Between 2017 and 2022, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) documented more than 25,000 fire or overheating incidents involving lithium-ion batteries, involving more than 400 product types (2). In 2023 alone, UL Solutions’ Fire Safety Institute documented at least 445 incidents in North America, resulting in 214 injuries and 38 fatalities(3). In New York City—ground zero of this crisis—lithium-ion batteries have caused more than 1,000 fires since 2019, killing 39 people and injuring 523 people (4).
This problem isn’t limited to e-bikes. Last July, Moneywise reported on Wisconsin quadriplegic father Dustin Harpe, who lost his accessible dream home after a lithium-ion drone battery exploded on his desk. The house was razed to the ground within 45 minutes. The pattern keeps repeating: a small, cheap, battery-powered product—and a disastrous result that no one expected.
Read more: The average American net worth is a surprising $620,654. But that makes almost no sense. Here are the numbers that matter (and how to make them soar)
Congress has shown a bipartisan willingness to take action. The Establishing Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act passed the House of Representatives in April 2025 (5) and its Senate companion unanimously passed out of committee (6). Fire chiefs urged lawmakers to sign the agreement.
But the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the agency responsible for enforcing safety standards, is in disarray. The committee voted 3-2 in April 2025 to propose lithium battery safety rules. Days later, President Trump fired the three Democratic commissioners who were in the majority, part of the administration’s broader effort to maintain control of independent federal agencies.
The two remaining Republicans immediately withdrew the rule (7). A federal judge briefly reinstated the fired commissioners, but the Supreme Court sided with the administration in July, allowing the commissioners to be removed from office while the lawsuit continued. The acting chairman resubmitted the rule to the White House Office of Regulatory Review in August 2025, but no progress has been made.
Even if legislation and rules are in effect, they specifically target micromobility devices – e-bikes, scooters, hoverboards. Inexpensive consumer electronics such as outdoor solar lights currently do not fall within that scope, and there are no mandatory federal safety tests.
Meanwhile, Amazon’s legal risks are changing. In July 2024, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission unanimously ruled that the company was a “reseller” under federal safety laws and held recall liability for dangerous products sold by third-party sellers through Amazon Fulfilled(8). Amazon has since tightened UL requirements for certain electronic product categories, but outdoor solar lights don’t appear to be among them.
Wright offered a blunt rule of thumb in an interview with WSMV: “Anything that’s plugged in to charge, and it works fine without being plugged in, then it probably contains a lithium-ion battery.”
Look for “UL”, “ETL” or “CSA”. These marks mean the product has been tested by a nationally recognized safety laboratory. The Tennessee Fire Marshal’s Office confirmed that all three are OSHA approved. No stamps? Don’t use it.
Reading list. Oskins’ lights never disclosed that they contained lithium-ion batteries. If the list doesn’t tell you the battery type, that’s a red flag.
Check your insurance. Most standard homeowners policies cover fire damage caused by lithium batteries, but they are not guaranteed. Insurers may limit or deny claims related to non-certified products or negligence, and major carriers have reportedly begun issuing internal guidance regarding lithium-ion fire claims (9). Talk to your agent now. Moneywise has reported on this issue before – two Florida families faced the same issue last year after a lithium battery fire destroyed their homes.
Report an unsafe product Visit SaferProducts.gov or call CPSC: 800-638-2772.
Brad Oskin spent less than $20 on a pack of solar lights to give his back deck a nice look. That purchase cost him his home, property and 36 years of memory.
Go check your backyard.
Join more than 250,000 readers and get first access to Moneywise’s best stories and exclusive interviews – curated and delivered with clear insights every week. Subscribe now.
—
We rely only on vetted sources and reliable third-party reports. For more information, see our Editorial Ethics and Guidelines.
WSMV(1); Washington State Patrol/U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission data (2); UL Solutions/Fire Safety Institute (3); U.S. House of Representatives Special Committee on China (4); Congress.gov (5, 6); U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (7, 8); Northwest Insurance Commission (9)
This article provides information only and should not be considered advice. It is provided without any warranty of any kind.
