Contrary to the old adage, there was plenty of smoke but no fire at Essanay Studio & Lighting when a battery charging overnight exploded early Wednesday morning.
The only damage occurred when the a flame swooshed out and singed a couple of wooden chairs 10-feet away on the stage, where the shoot was to take place, creating billows of smoke.
An assistant cameraman the night before had routinely connected the battery to a standard wall outlet, to be used the next morning by spot director Dennis Manarchy on a Sargento cheese shoot.
“No one was at fault,” said Tom Fletcher, whose Fletcher Chicago rented Manarchy the Arriflex 535 full camera package and three batteries.
While small Li-Ion batteries can safely power computers and cell phones,” said Essanay’s Wayne Kubacki, “they are only potentially hazardous when they get to be the size of professional camera batteries.”
Fletcher president Archie Fletcher took immediate responsibility by taking the Li-On Liberty battery out of service “to insure the safety of all parties involved in film shoots,” he said.
