Power bank explodes and catches fire beside woman in Tampines condo

Personal Mobility Device (PMD) fires have been commonplace, but recently (Sep 12), a woman’s power bank exploded, catching fire next to her.

The woman was asleep in her condominium in Tampines, when the power bank, which was not charging, exploded at around 1 am.

In a report in Lianhe Wanbao, a man said that his wife was awoken by the sound of a bang, and she found that the power bank on her bedside table had exploded and caught fire.

The report said that the woman used a wet towel to take the power bank out and tossed it onto the floor.

When she dropped the device onto their Timber wood flooring, the man added that the fire started spreading. The woman then made multiple trips to re-soak the towel and eventually managed to put out the fire.

The man recounted to the Chinese daily that a portion of the timber had been singed and the towel had a hole burnt through it. He noted that the total damage could have been a lot worse if his wife had not noticed the power bank catching  fire.

Earlier this year, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) reported that the number of personal mobility device (PMD)-related fires almost doubled in 2019, according to annual statistics released.

There were 102 fires involving PMDs last year, a “sharp increase” from the 52 incidents in 2018, SCDF said. This figure has steadily increased since 2015, when only one PMD-related fires were reported.

On the other hand, power-assisted bicycles (PAB)-related fires went down from 22 cases in 2018 to 13 cases last year. -/TISG