Four including 5-day-old baby escape Singapore flat after e-bike catches fire

SINGAPORE: An electric bicycle that was left to charge overnight sparked a fire in a Bukit Batok flat here early Thursday, with three residents and a baby taken to hospital.

The Straits Times understands that the baby was just five days old.

The incident occurred on the second floor of Block 231, Bukit Batok East Avenue 5, at 3.50am, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said in a Facebook post.

The living room and corridor were razed by the fire, which SCDF put out with a water jet.

Four people who lived there – including the baby – were taken to the National University Hospital for minor injuries.

SCDF said preliminary investigations showed that the fire was caused by the overnight charging of an e-bike.

SCDF had said in February this year that more fires were caused by batteries of electrical bicycles, personal mobility devices and power banks last year.

Last year, 17 fires were caused by electrical bicycles, up from 14 in 2015. There were 14 fires involving PMDs, a significant increase from just one case the previous year.

SCDF gave the following fire safety tips on the prevention of battery fires involving personal mobility devices:

– Avoid overcharging the battery, especially leaving it to charge overnight

– When charging such batteries, place them on hard flat surfaces to allow optimal dissipation of heat

– Do not place the charging battery near combustible materials. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network