Caution urged after Cork City fire blamed on e-bike charger

'Never leave battery-powered devices unattended while charging', Cork City Fire Brigade has warned

It's understood that a lithium-ion battery pack for an e-bike was left unattended and caught fire after failing.

Cork City Fire Brigade has urged caution when charging e-bikes and e-scooters after a fire broke out on Tuesday morning.

It is believed the fire started after a lithium-ion battery pack for an e-bike was left unattended and caught fire after failing.

The fire brigade said four units attended a fire on Lower Barrack Street in an apartment located above O’Sho pub shortly after midnight on Tuesday morning.

“Never leave battery-powered devices unattended while charging,” said fire brigade second officer Viktor Shine, and added there have been increasing incidents around the country similar to this one.

“All over the country we are getting reports of lithium battery packs going on fire,” he said. “[Electric] scooters, bikes, even toys, computers, and phones are actually having failures.” 

“Lithium-ion battery packs, they [can] go into a phenomenon called thermal runaway,” he said.

The cells fail, they heat off each other and you get many explosions leading to a fire.

The damage from the incident on Tuesday morning was “minor” as the alert and response was very fast, he said. However, “it could have been a lot worse”.

The walls outside the property were still charred above the front window on Tuesday afternoon but there appeared to be minimal damage to the external property and the pub below.

Mr Shine said devices should never be left unattended when charging and when leaving the house, he suggested to unplug chargers and power down equipment including televisions. He urged homeowners to be “cautious” and “aware” of these threats.

The fire brigade warned the public to ensure e-bike’s meet safety standards and smoke alarms are working.