Firefighters concerned after toolbox, garbage truck, car charger and e-bike catch fire in one day
Firefighters are concerned about the growing number of lithium-ion battery fires after crews responded to four separate incidents in NSW in one day.
The four fires, which come as fire crews are having to deal with five of the blazes every week, were caused by batteries variously catching fire in a toolbox, a garbage truck, an electric car charging station and an e-bike.
A tradesman with a toolbox on fire drove to Tingira Heights Fire Station at Lake Macquarie to seek help from firefighters at 4pm yesterday.
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An e-bike cuased a fire at a 10-storey unit block yesterday. Nine
"The maintenance worker told the crew he was driving when he noticed a large amount of smoke in his rear vision mirror," Fire and Rescue NSW said in a statement.
"When he stopped his ute and opened the large toolbox, he found an unattached battery for his hedger ablaze," firefighters said.
"The man covered the flames in dirt and drove to the nearby fire station."
Crews found the battery had entered a thermal runaway, where the cell was letting off gas and threatening to explode, and submerged it in water until the danger had passed.
An electric vehicle charging station fire on Apprentice Drive at Berkeley Vale caused nine fire trucks to isolate the area and contain the blaze about 5pm yesterday.
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A projectile from a Lithium-ion battery e-bike fire in Bankstown yesterday. Fire and Rescue NSW
Firefighters also responded to a fire in the back of a garbage truck along Derby Street at Silverwater just after midday.
"The driver stopped the truck and tipped the burning rubbish onto the roadway," firefighters said.
They found another battery that had entered a thermal runaway.
The fourth incident involved fire crews responding to an e-bike that caught fire on the third floor of a 10-storey apartment block in Bankstown.
"Residents were evacuated from the French Avenue address around 6.30am, as 25 firefighters and four trucks responded to the scene."
The resident was burned as he tried to put the fire out.
FRNSW have responded to 63 lithium battery fires this year – more than five each week.
Last year they responded to 272.
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