Electric skateboard fire forced Yamba family to flee

An electric skateboard left on charge caught alight, forcing a Northern NSW family of five to flee their home. See why firefighters are worried ahead of the Christmas gift-giving season.

A 12-year-old girl was treated for smoke inhalation after her electric skateboard caught alight. Picture: Supplied

Authorities are warning people to take care with lithium-ion battery powered devices after a family of five at Yamba was lucky to escape when an electric skateboard caught alight in the dead of night.

A 12-year-old girl was woken around midnight by the crackling sound of her electric skateboard - a Christmas gift - which was on charge.

The girl and four members of her family safely made it out of their Cameron Street home as Fire and Rescue NSW crews from Yamba, Maclean and Grafton arrived.

The child was assessed by paramedics for a serious case of smoke inhalation and taken to hospital for further treatment.

While extinguishing the blaze, FRNSW crews discovered the home’s smoke alarm was inoperative and missing a battery.

A FRNSW spokesman repeated the importance of well maintained and working smoke alarms.

“We are reminding Christmas shoppers to use caution this year when purchasing lithium-ion powered devices including micro-mobility vehicles, such as e-bikes, e-scooters and e-skateboards,” the spokesman said.

Fire and Rescue NSW advises people to:

• not overcharge lithium-ion batteries or allow them to overheat
• always use compliant and approved charging stations/equipment
• avoid dropping, crushing, piercing or vibrating the power cells
• carefully and lawfully dispose of any battery that short-circuits, malfunctions and/or suffers a system fault/s; and
• be aware of defects or contamination introduced during manufacture.