In Tuesday’s (7 Nov) incident, Mr Ridwan Ithnin, 23, suffered burns to 45 percent of his body, and had to be saved by his neighbour from the window ledge of his 10th-floor Yishun flat when the e-scooter exploded in his room.
The flames blocked the door, leading him to break open his window and climb out in a panic.
The two latest incidents bring the tally of fires caused by personal mobility devices this year to at least 33.
The SCDF said there were 31 fires involving personal mobility devices – now widely used – from January to September this year, compared with 19 cases over the same period last year.
NEIGHBOUR RESCUES PMD OWNER FROM LEDGE
Mr Ridwan had bought the e-scooter just two weeks ago for his part-time job as a deliveryman for Deliveroo, his brother Kamil Ithnin, 31, told The Straits Times.
Mr Kamil, a shipping engineer, said that his brother had charged the e-scooter for about six hours before it exploded.
“I was at a meeting when the fire broke out. When I reached home, I saw my brother at the foot of the block on a stretcher,” he said.
He added that his father, who tried to put out the fire, and sister-in-law were also hospitalised for smoke inhalation.
Mr Kamil said he cannot thank his neighbour, Mr Guyrence Tan, 26, enough. Mr Tan, an undergraduate at Lasalle College of the Arts, had entered the flat and dashed into the bedroom to pull Mr Ridwan from the ledge, suffering burns on his hands in the process.
“I need to treat his whole family to makan,” said Mr Kamil.
Mr Tan’s mother, who declined to give her name, said her daughter had called to tell her that her son had dashed into a flat with a fire to save someone, but did not initially mention that he was hurt.
“But I felt uneasy after hanging up, so I called back and that was when he told me they were going to the hospital,” said the volunteer worker.
The two families have known each other for at least 10 years.
Mr Tan had just woken up when he heard people shouting “hold on”. He ran into the bedroom to help when he saw that Mr Ridwan was on the ledge.
He is now recovering from his injuries at home, his mother said.
“I told him that I’m proud of what he did, but also reminded him to be mindful of his own safety,” she said.
Last month, a family had to escape through their bedroom window with a five-day-old baby after an electric bicycle charging overnight in the common corridor of a Bukit Batok block caught fire.
Professor Subodh Mhaisalkar, executive director of Nanyang Technological University’s Energy Research Institute, said getting to the root cause of battery fires is a complicated process.
But he noted that the industry is well able to produce safe batteries.
“Why such cases still happen is because there is insufficient care taken in certification and verification of design…
“It could be possible that the device did not go through all the safety checks or that there was a manufacturing defect,” said Prof Subodh.
Whatever the root cause, Mr Kamil has sworn off e-scooters.
“I’ve warned my family never to buy another one.”
Related story: Electric scooter charging overnight in Choa Chu Kang flat sparks fire, forcing 3 people to flee
Related story: Neighbours band to help family whose Woodlands flat was destroyed by fire from an exploding electric scooter
