E-bike blaze destroys Bondi unit, residents escape through window

An e-bike battery left on charge overnight has sparked a destructive blaze in a North Bondi unit, forcing the residents to jump out of the windows to escape with their lives.

Four travellers from South America were asleep inside the unit above a shop in Curlewis Street at 4am on Friday when one was woken by the sound of small explosions, a statement from Fire and Rescue NSW said.

The occupant woke up the others as smoke filled the unit. Two of them were fled through the front door, which had a self-closing mechanism designed to contain the fire inside the unit.

The other two couldn’t get to the door because of the thick smoke, and instead were forced to escape through the windows and onto the awning.

They were safely down on the street when firefighters arrived.

The fire didn’t spread to neighbouring units or the shop below, but firefighters evacuated 14 neighbours as a precaution.

The North Bondi unit was destroyed in the blaze, caused by an e-bike battery left on charge overnight. Credit: Fire and Rescue NSW

The fire was extinguished and no one was hurt, but the travellers lost everything, including their passports, banking information and phones, Fire and Rescue NSW spokesman Adam Dewberry said.

Investigators were quick to comb the unit after the blaze was extinguished and quickly determined a faulty lithium-ion battery was to blame.

Dewberry said the residents had hired the e-bike to get around and had left the battery on charge while they slept.

“Don’t charge them when you’re asleep. You don’t smell smoke when you’re asleep, and we’ve had a couple of events now with lucky escapes and the battery has failed and caught fire while the residents were asleep,” Dewberry said.

“Our advice is just don’t do it, and make sure you have working smoke alarms.”

Firefighters are grappling with an increase in e-bike and e-scooter fires in Sydney. Low-quality products that don’t have safety features that will switch off when overcharging are often the culprit.

Lithium-ion batteries can cause “thermal runaway incidents” in which the battery overheats and emits toxic gas. The explosive fire is hard to put out and prone to reignition.

Last month three food delivery riders were rushed to hospital, one with extensive burns after an e-bike battery caught fire in their Annandale apartment.

A fire sparked by a faulty lithium-ion battery at the Mad Monkey backpackers in Potts Point. in October last year.

The roommates had finished their delivery shifts about 3am and were charging their bikes downstairs while they slept during the day.

The battery exploded, significantly damaging the home.

The fire was almost identical to a fire last October at the Mad Monkey hostel in Potts Point. CCTV captured the dramatic moment an e-bike battery exploded.

Two men were seen running for their lives as flames pushed out of the room into the hallway.

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