As people race out to buy electronics for Christmas, a disability pensioner whose home was destroyed by an exploding e-scooter is pleading with people to be wary. Lithium-ion batteries have been responsible for hundreds of fires across Queensland in recent years.
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00:00Daryl Hurst has lived in this house for 37 years.
00:06Charred memories are all that's left.
00:09It's one of the worst fires I've ever seen.
00:12As I said, if I would have laid down, I wouldn't have woke up.
00:16I wouldn't have made it out.
00:18The late night inferno was sparked by an electric scooter
00:21on charge in the garage.
00:23There was a scooter there and a scooter sitting here.
00:26So when that one blew up, it made this one go off.
00:30The disability pensioner wishes he'd known the fire risk
00:34of e-scooters before it was too late.
00:37They are a weapon. They're a chicken tie bomb.
00:41It has absolutely shattered me.
00:44The scooters are powered by lithium-ion batteries,
00:47which are also used in mobile phones, laptops and power tools.
00:52But they can be dangerous, even deadly,
00:55if badly manufactured, misused or modified.
00:58They do certainly run the risk there that there's a fault
01:01in the product and that can cause fire,
01:03and that fire can be catastrophic.
01:05The batteries have caused almost 500 blazes
01:08across Queensland since July 2021.
01:12When purchased from a reputable retailer and used correctly,
01:16authorities say the risk of an e-scooter or e-bike
01:19causing this scale of devastation is low.
01:22They're urging users to store their devices in a cool, dry place
01:26and charge them outside where possible.
01:29Darrell Hurst now lives in a camper trailer in the backyard.
01:33Please don't charge the batteries in your house.
01:35Charge them out the back.
01:37He couldn't afford insurance, and the house is earmarked for demolition.