Father and child flee in viral video as charging e-scooter combusts and engulfs their home in flames

A video of a father and daughter fleeing their home as a charging e-scooter combusts and engulfs their home in flames is going viral here. The video has garnered over 40,000 views since it was shared online yesterday.

In the video, which was captured on Sunday evening, a man and a child appear to be relaxing in their living room when the e-scooter emits a spark and smoke billows from the mobility device. The man quickly approaches the e-scooter and shuts off the power supply but the e-scooter begins to emit thicker smoke.

The man quickly grabs his daughter and flees the home with this small dog in tow as the device bursts into flames and explodes into the living room with a roar:

Although the incident captured in the viral video occurred in China, many Singaporeans are sharing the video with fervour since similar incidents have occurred here.

Earlier this year, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) reported that the number of fires involving e-scooters in 2017 compared to 2016 shot up by nearly 350 per cent, from 9 incidents in 2016 to 40 in just a year.

In one such case, three people were forced to flee their Choa Chu Kang flat last year after the battery charger of an e-scooter inside caught on fire.

SCDF officers who responded to the fire had to forcibly enter the apartment and put out the fire which was started by a portable battery charger attached to the e-scooter. No one was injured.

The SCDF previously reported that “there were 32 incidents of fire involving the batteries of electric bicycles from 2008 – 2015, about 90.6% of the fires occurring in the last 4 years. 50.0% of the fires occurred while the batteries were being charged while 31.3% of the fires occurred when the electric bicycles were stationary and not in use.”

More recently, in February, the SCDF urged e-scooter owners to avoid leaving them devices charging unattended or overnight.