Electric Bike Causes Blaze

A faulty electric bike battery led to a callout for the emergency services on Monday evening, as occupants were trapped in an upstairs room.

All three emergency services attended the call out just after 7.45pm to Peel’s Marine Parade.

The fire service said that on arrival the incident commander could see the building was heavily smoke logged and quickly despatched four personnel wearing breathing apparatus to rescue the people trapped on the top floor.

It said: ‘The breathing apparatus crews located the trapped people and escorted them safely out of the building. Both occupants were checked over by the ambulance on scene and neither had any injuries.

‘The smoke within the property was due to an electrical bicycle on the ground floor and this was removed by the breathing apparatus teams.  On inspection there was an issue with the battery that had caused a fire which had luckily not spread throughout the property. There was evidence of scorch marks on the wall where the bike was stored that highlighted the heat that the battery had produced.

‘Crews remained in attendance until the scene was made safe and the property was fully vented.’

The fire service has also reminded people that electric bikes should be stored in a way that still allows them to escape if an issue is to occur.

It said: ‘Electric bicycles are becoming more common and pose a fire risk that a normal bicycle does not so this should be considered when storing the bike.’

Pictures supplied by Isle of Man Fire and Rescue service.