Bell 206b helicopter pilot reported a precautionary landing due to EICAS baggage door annunciation. ...

Attributes
ACN	1758409
Time
Date	202008
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Jet/Long Ranger/206
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Cargo/Baggage
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 31 Flight Crew Total 6742 Flight Crew Type 2341
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Hazardous Material Violation Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor

Narrative:

I was returning to ZZZ from ZZZ1 thru ZZZ2 airspace when my baggage door open light lit.I made a call to ZZZ2 tower as I was in their airspace. I informed them of the light and I would be making a precautionary landing to check it out. I circled park twice and seeing no one in the park I landed. I locked the controls. I got out of the helicopter and walked around the front to the rear left baggage compartment. I opened it up and witnessed a smoking lithium flashlight smoking and in a melted state. It was lying on a microfiber cleaning cloth. I grabbed another cloth and pushed the flashlight out of the compartment onto the ground. Upon hitting the ground the dry grass caught fire in a small area. I took a foil sun window screen from the same baggage and hit the burning grass a few times until it stopped burning. A man from one of the many surrounding houses ran up and handed me two bottles of water to make sure the grass was completely out. I didn't see any police or fire trucks at this point. I did see many people from the surrounding houses starting to walk towards the helicopter. They were coming from all directions. I was worried that someone would walk into the tail rotor blades so I jumped back in the helicopter and took off back to ZZZ. I called ZZZ2 tower again and informed them all was ok and I was returning to ZZZ1 and would make the appropriate calls upon arrival. I called ZZZ2 tower; FAA; ZZZ1 tower and the police department.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Bell 206b Helicopter Pilot reported a precautionary landing due to EICAS Baggage Door annunciation. After discarding a smoking lithium flashlight flight completed an uneventful destination landing.

Narrative: I was returning to ZZZ from ZZZ1 thru ZZZ2 airspace when my baggage door open light lit.I made a call to ZZZ2 tower as I was in their airspace. I informed them of the light and I would be making a precautionary landing to check it out. I circled park twice and seeing no one in the park I landed. I locked the controls. I got out of the helicopter and walked around the front to the rear left baggage compartment. I opened it up and witnessed a smoking lithium flashlight smoking and in a melted state. It was lying on a microfiber cleaning cloth. I grabbed another cloth and pushed the flashlight out of the compartment onto the ground. Upon hitting the ground the dry grass caught fire in a small area. I took a foil sun window screen from the same baggage and hit the burning grass a few times until it stopped burning. A man from one of the many surrounding houses ran up and handed me two bottles of water to make sure the grass was completely out. I didn't see any police or fire trucks at this point. I did see many people from the surrounding houses starting to walk towards the helicopter. They were coming from all directions. I was worried that someone would walk into the tail rotor blades so I jumped back in the helicopter and took off back to ZZZ. I called ZZZ2 tower again and informed them all was ok and I was returning to ZZZ1 and would make the appropriate calls upon arrival. I called ZZZ2 tower; FAA; ZZZ1 Tower and the Police Department.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Bell 206b helicopter pilot reported a precautionary landing due to EICAS baggage door annunciation. After discarding a smoking lithium flashlight flight completed an uneventful destination landing.