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E-scooter battery sparked New Farm blaze, two people remain critical
By Cloe Read and Courtney Kruk
An e-scooter left charging in a loungeroom caused the inferno in a New Farm unit last weekend that has left two people in a critical condition, fire investigators have confirmed.
The apartment on Bowen Terrace, a block back from busy Brunswick Street, burst into flames about 9am on Saturday.
It is at least the second residential fire this year caused by an e-scooter battery, after a home on the corner of Orion and Sirius streets in Coorparoo was destroyed by a blaze in January.
A loud explosion alerted neighbours to the fire in New Farm, including Iain (last name withheld) who rushed to the brick unit block to find two men and two women on a balcony desperately trying to escape.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services have confirmed a charging e-scooter caused a fire at a New Farm apartment complex over the weekend. Credit: Queensland Ambulance Service
“Some guy grabbed me a stool and I went up ... a lady passed a dog to me and I helped her down,” Iain told Brisbane Times on Saturday.
“And then another guy came down, and then I stood up, and I couldn’t reach up because the two people were badly burned.
“I couldn’t grip them, I couldn’t grab them because their skin came off in my hands.”
Firefighters were soon on the scene, with Iain leading them to the balcony with a ladder to climb up.
“They went up and got the girl first, brought her down, and got the guy down, and then we just sat there and hosed them until the ambulances turned up.”
A Queensland Fire and Emergency Service (QFES) spokesperson told ABC News early investigations suggested the intensity of the fire was due to clutter in the unit and described the conditions as a “perfect storm” for fire.
The spokesperson said two visitors had been staying in the loungeroom of the unit and left the e-scooter on charge.
Lithium-ion batteries used in e-scooters were blamed for a spate of house fires last year, prompting a review into Queensland’s Electrical Safety Act.
The man and woman who suffered extensive burns in the fire were rushed to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and later each placed in an induced coma.
They both remained in a critical condition in hospital on Monday.
Iain was treated in hospital for smoke inhalation and later discharged.
The two other people in the unit were assessed for smoke inhalation by paramedics at the scene but declined hospitalisation.