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news
London Fire Brigade attending an incident (licensed CC BY 2.0 by Shirokazan on Wikimedia Commons)Mum 'loses everything' in e-bike related house fire
A mother-of-two has lost everything in a house fire believed to have started as a result of a problem with an electric bike's battery.
Sabrina Duff was forced to flee the blaze with her 16-year-old son early on Thursday morning. Her five-year-old was staying with his father at the time.
The London Fire Brigade was called to the maisonette on Sutterton Street, Islington, just before 7am, with 25 firefighters needed to put out the blaze, the Islington Gazette report.
Most of the ground floor and some of the first floor were damaged and the fire brigade believes the fire was caused by 'an electrical event within a lithium-ion battery pack for an electric bicycle'.
Earlier this month members of London Fire Brigade’s Fire Investigation team warned of the possible dangers converted e-bikes, and replacement batteries, can cause.
Matt Cullen, Fire Investigation Officer, said: “We have seen that when these batteries and chargers fail, they do so with ferocity which can leave residents with few safe options for escape.
“These bikes and scooters are often stored and charged in escape routes in homes or communal areas so when a fire does occur, escape routes are blocked which immediately makes an already serious situation much more frightening for those involved.
“We have seen people forced into jumping from windows as they can’t get out of their front doors as the bike or scooter which has caught fire is in front of it.
“Even when the bikes or scooters aren’t in escape routes or communal areas, the fires are fierce enough that they pose an immediate danger to all occupants and we are seeing an increase in these types of fires.”
He explained that it was often e-bike conversion kits that were involved in the fires.
He continued: “At some of these incidents we have seen multiple batteries and chargers for a number of bikes in one property, which has resulted in the mixing of different chargers and batteries.
"We know that lithium-ion batteries are susceptible to failure if incorrect chargers are used and this may be a contributing factor in some cases.
“We also know many of these incidents involve batteries which have been sourced on the Internet, which may not meet the correct safety standards.”
In February, eight fire engines and around 60 firefighters attended a blaze at a house in Acton which involved an electric bike battery.
In April, there was another significant fire involving an e-bike in Walthamstow, when firefighters rescued three men from an outbuilding.
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11 comments
It seems to me that the majority of e-bikes in the UK are not being charged by taking the battery off, putting it in the postulated 'fireproof' bag, and then connecting it to power- they're being charged on or in the bike. All the e-bike devotees on here will no doubt correct me if I'm wrong. The fireproof bit is hard to believe anyway- accepting that not all Li-ion batteries are the same it seems improbable that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner battery fires could have been prevented by a simple and cheap 'fireproof bag' which Boeing omitted to install. I'm slightly suspicious about these batteries, so I have been making an effort to avoid charging phones and computers when I'm out of the house or asleep.
I expect it will need to be whether you consider yourself a person who always gets the shitty end of the stick.
Taking out all the issues caused by not using manufacturers chargers or batteries (which is usualy the cause of most public ones) and the amount of these batteries in the world, the chances of it happening to you is very minuscule and probably on par with getting your house set on fire by Lightening. (When I was younger we had to go around and unplug all electrical things in our house if a Thunder Storm got close.)
However I will admit even badly designed official batteries can cause problems, hence the fires you mentioned* and Samsung being hot stuff around the same time.
*According to the report, Boeing engineers hadn't considered battery fires and the FAA also hadn't so didn't have robust rules around use and protection of them. So no bag or other fire suppression options fitted. Apparently the protecting enclosure is so heavy now it totally negated using the lighter batteries in the first place.
"In February, eight fire engines and around 60 firefighters attended a blaze at a house in Acton which involved an electric bike battery."
They must have been bored at the time or on the periphary of too many fire stations.
Would you rather too many attend your house fire or too few?
The right number.
Or are you claiming any incidents are never concurrent?
Good point about the bikes being stored in hallways and other escape routes. Obvious if you think about it and another reason to demand secure cycle storage as a basic facility in high density housing situations.
All e-bikes and e-scooters (when the UK legalise them) should have a removable battery, and be supplied with a suitably sized fireproof bag to charge it in. (Used to have them for LiPo batteries for my RC car) In the even of a failure, the bag partially melts, welds together and prevents the fire getting more oxygen, effectively smothering it, if not completely, at least enough that you can get our.
Most of the fires in e-scooters here in Norway seem to be in the brands that sell the illegal spec models, often capable of 70km/hr+
The "fireproof" bag seems like an excellent idea.
For my lights I have always gone for the more reputable UK and US brands, and Duracells for my little AA and AAAs, always hoping that paying that little bit extra might give me some safety advantage.
Hope and Exposure also give good warranties and after will repair stuff for a reasonable amount, giving more longevity than what a cheaper and more powerful internet special might have given me.
My understanding is that lithium-ion battery fires can not be starved of oxygen because they generate their own. So smothering will not stop them burning. Lithium-polymer (LiPo) might be different.
Even if they do generate their own oxygen, there will be a finite limit to the amount if it's in a sealed environment.
If they can provide a minute or so for the residents to extricate themselves and the fire brigade can get a head start on putting it out then that's enough.
Though I'm guessing it's an expensive option, unlike some of these conversion kits and e-bikes.