Investigators are looking into whether lithium e-bike batteries were the cause of a large boarding house fire in Sydney’s inner west on Saturday morning that left one man hospitalised.
Twenty people had fled the property when Fire and Rescue NSW responded at about 6.10am to reports of a fire at a boarding house on Fort Street in Petersham. More than 20 firefighters with six trucks worked to extinguish the blaze within an hour.
A firefighter surveys the blaze at the Petersham boarding house on Saturday morning. E-bike batteries in the area fuelled the fire’s intensity.Credit: Nine News
A NSW Ambulance spokeswoman confirmed a 51-year-old man had been transported to Sydney Hospital after suffering minor burns and was in a stable condition.
Some of the occupants who self-evacuated when the fire started have since been able to return to their lodgings.
Fire and Rescue superintendent Adam Dewberry said it was not yet clear if the blaze, which started on the ground floor, began as an electrical fire. He said investigations were focusing on lithium-ion e-bike batteries around the area, which had contributed to the fire’s rapid spread and intensity, causing numerous minor explosions.
“The batteries go into thermal runaway and explode,” he said. “They have a jet-like flame that comes out of them.”
Police established a crime scene but a spokesperson for NSW Police said the fire was not being treated as suspicious.
The fire comes after a NSW parliamentary report into electric bikes and scooters made several recommendations to address safety concerns about their use as a mode of transport.
The inquiry found they were generally a legitimate method of transport, and recommended electric scooters be legalised and that users – along with e-bike and regular bicycle riders – be allowed to ride on pavements at no more than 15km/h, giving way to pedestrians.
Transport for NSW has welcomed the inquiry findings and is considering whether to agree to the recommendations. Other cities, including Melbourne and Paris, have banned e-scooters.
Lithium-ion battery fires are common across NSW, where there were at least 318 in 2024. Last week Fire and Rescue NSW warned of a spike in incidents, after responding to four separate e-bike and e-scooter fires in Sydney within the space of 12 hours.
Last year about 50 people were evacuated from an electric-bike shop in Chippendale due to a fire, with residents reporting hearing “popping” sounds coming from the building as batteries exploded.
More to come
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