Alex Trelinski
AN ELECTRIC scooter battery left on charge overnight sparked an apartment block blaze in Elche early Friday morning.
The fire spread through the five-storey building affecting six homes and the rescue of nine people and two cats.
The blaze on Calle Pablo Picasso caused an injury to a firefighter as well as four people having to be treated for smoke inhalation.
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The third floor apartment where the fire started was completely destroyed with the first two floors having to be evacuated.
Nine people were rescued from their third, fourth, and fifth floor homes.
Fire crews from Elche and Crevillente responded to an emergency call at 2.22am and it took nearly two hours to bring the blaze under control.
The Alicante Provincial firefighters consortium said the fire ’caused a lot of smoke’.
Three people were taken to Elche General Hospital and another person to the city’s Vinalopo Hospital.
The injured firefighter, 26, suffered a dislocated shoulder after falling from a ladder.
Goods powered by batteries are on the increase: here at home we have a couple of Garmin watches and 2 golf trolley batteries each with their own chargers. If this practice is inherently unsafe, they should not be sold, or at least sold with a “health” warning.
We certainly need more information about this practice: what are the risks involved, when not to charge batteries, how to gauge the condition of your battery, and how age of batteries may affect them. Add to the above list the increasing number of EV batteries, is our new way of life with batteries leading to increased fire risk?