E-bike battery causes fire, prompts apartment rescue in St. Paul

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - When Michael Smith heard the fire alarm go off in his apartment building in St. Paul on Monday morning, he ran up to the third floor to make sure people were getting out.

When he opened the door at the top of the stairs, he could go no further.

"I ain’t never seen anything like this before," he told FOX 9. "When I opened the door, there was so much smoke, I just shut the door and ran downstairs and started knocking on people’s doors, let everybody know this is serious. Y’all need to come out here."

Cause of fire

What had fully filled the third floor hallway with thick, black, toxic smoke was a small electric bike. Its battery overheated, it erupted in flames and the smoke poured out quickly.

"The amount of black smoke that comes out, I mean, it’s black to where you cannot see your hand in front of your face," said Deputy Chief Jamie Smith of the St. Paul Fire Department. "It is thick, toxic, black smoke, and it filled the hallway very quickly."

When firefighters arrived at 1140 4th Street East, one third floor resident was partway out his window, the smoke billowing out behind him.

He was taken out by ladder and taken to a hospital, where he was treated for smoke inhalation. Several others were treated at the scene.

Authorities warning

For authorities, this is a huge warning about the risks of overheating lithium batteries in bikes, scooters and skateboards.

Last year, the same thing happened inside Catholic Charities in St. Paul. No one was injured in that fire.

But in the past few years, this exact problem has occurred across the country, usually when charging, but not always  Several people have been killed.

The issue comes mostly in cheaper products because there is little to no regulation of lithium batteries they use.

Congress is working on a bill called the "Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act," which has passed the U.S. House but awaiting action in the U.S. Senate. It would have the Consumer Product Safety Commission set a standard for lithium batteries in "micro-mobility" devices such as bikes.

St. Paul Fire recommends not storing an electric bike or scooter in your home or apartment, but rather in a garage or chained up outside.

Of course, that’s not realistic for everyone so the battery safety standards become even more important.

And Deputy Chief Smith says another problem is these are fires you can’t put them out yourself by dousing the batteries with water. Rather, they need the capacity of a fire hose

"It makes it worse," says Smith. "They don’t go out. The heat from these things is going to overcome what most civilians are going to be able to do."