Family of five, and two young persons died in lithium battery fires - the e-bike discourse goes global
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A family of five recently died in the Philippine province of Pangasinan, in a fire caused by an overcharged e-bike. In Queens, New York, two young people died in yet another incident in a long row of recent fires caused by malfunctioning e-bikes or e-scooters.
According to an April 5 article on the Khaleej Times, the father of the young family managed to save five other members of the household but they got trapped in the rapidly developing fire when he came back to save his wife and kids.
An investigation conducted by local fire protection authorities proved that the e-bike was left plugged in overnight on the ground floor of the family's home in the municipality of Pozorrubio.
“(Their) electronic bike does not have an automatic switch mechanism that would stop once the charging was completed,” a fire officer said in a report released by the government-run Philippine News Agency (PNA).
"When the blaze broke out, it quickly spread through the wirings of the house "until it reached the attic where the casualties were sleeping", he added.
Ten people were reportedly living in the residence. The young father who died managed to save other members of the household, including the elderly and others who were on the ground floor.
Long row of lithium battery fire related deaths in New York
According to an article in the New York Times, two young people were killed in “an explosion of fire” caused by an e-bike that was being charged near the front door of an apartment building in the Astoria neighborhood in Queens on April 10 , New York City fire officials said.
It was allegedly the latest in a series of deadly blazes caused by e-bike batteries.
The fire started in the vestibule of the building and spread quickly up the stairway, and rapidly involved an apartment on the second floor. A father and five young people, including children, were inside, according to fire officials. Four of the occupants were able to jump out the windows to safety.
The intensity of the fast-moving fire, ignited by the e-bike’s lithium ion battery, was the reason the family was trapped in the apartment, officials said.
Fire officials said that five people in the New York area have been killed this year by fires started by the lithium ion batteries that power micro-mobility devices, including e-bikes and e-scooters. That number is up from a total of six deaths in all of 2022, according to fire officials.
Lithium batteries have been identified in 59 fires this year in the New York area, compared with 220 fires last year, according to the New York Times.