Scooter battery cause of Welland balcony fire
A Welland Street resident says an electric scooter battery is to blame for a fire that broke out on his apartment balcony Sunday afternoon.
Emergency crews were called out to 10 Welland St. in Welland at 2:50 p.m. after multiple calls came in about a fire in the apartment building.
When crews arrived on scene, fire was pouring out from the balcony, but Welland Fire and Emergency Services Chief Brian Kennedy said the fire was quickly under control and put out. Smoke plumed out of the building for a short time and the smell lingered in the air for a while after that.
Peter Back, the resident who lives in the topfloor unit, said he was sitting in his living room with his wife when he heard popping noises coming from his balcony. When he went to investigate, he said the electric scooter battery he stored out there was making those noises and was really warm. He said he tried to take the lid off, but it ignited.
“It was like the Fourth of July on the balcony,” he said, standing across the street beyond yellow police tape while fire crews continued to assess the scene.
He and his wife were both assessed by paramedics, but were released without going to hospital. The only impact to Back was a singed sock from being as close as he had been when the battery caught fire.
He said the scooter battery is made up of four individual cell batteries and he unloaded three fire extinguishers on it to no avail as they consecutively exploded and reignited. When the shingles on the building caught fire, he knew he had done as much as he could.
All of this happened within a five-minute timeframe, and Back said it’s fortunate the battery was outside. He said he and his wife called 911 and set off the apartment’s fire alarms right away, and would have done so even if it hadn’t been as bad as it was.
He closed the balcony door and his apartment door behind him to contain the blaze.
Kennedy said the fire was contained mostly to the balcony. There was smoke and water damage in the unit itself, but most of the damage was on the balcony.
Kennedy said the 22 career and volunteer firefighters who responded to the blaze knocked the fire down from the exterior and then drove the rest out with an interior attack. An aerial truck came in from Pelham Fire Department to assess potential damage to the roof; Kennedy said Welland’s aerial truck was out for maintenance at the time.
He had no estimate for the damage on scene.
Other tenants were also assessed on scene by paramedics, with one opting to go to the hospital for further observation.