Footage showing an e-scooter exploding in a London home has been released to highlight the risks around charging batteries.
The London Fire Brigade published the video of the moment an e-scooter caught fire while charging in the kitchen of a home in north-west London.
It takes only seconds for the room to be filled with flames and smoke.
Security guard Dell Williams, 37, was charging the e-scooter that he bought a few weeks earlier on online marketplace Gumtree.
Neither he nor the other tenants living in the property were near the kitchen when the fire occurred on Saturday.
Mr Williams said he was “grateful to be alive” following the fire and revealed that he spent eight hours in hospital due to smoke inhalation.
“I was shocked, I am shocked now. I am so grateful that no one else was hurt,” he said.
“I cheated death.
“Don’t have e-scooters in the house. Charge outside.”
London Fire Brigade deputy commissioner Dom Ellis said this type of fire is becoming more common.
“As the video shows, once a battery starts to go into thermal runaway, a fire develops very quickly and can block escape routes,” he said.
“Thermal runaway can lead to the destruction of the battery and a ferocious fire.”
Users of e-scooters and e-bikes are advised to allow their batteries to cool down before recharging them, and to buy chargers and batteries from reputable sellers.
The London Fire Brigade also urged people to fit smoke alarms in areas where charging happens indoors.
The brigade has been called to 48 e-bike fires and 12 e-scooter fires in the capital so far this year.
