Four tourists have miraculously escaped their North Bondi apartment after a fire was sparked inside the unit by an e-bike battery left on charge.
Key points:
- A fire broke out inside a North Bondi unit after an e-bike battery was left on charge
- Four tourists inside the apartment were forced to escape, two via a window
- Firefighters were called to the scene and managed to quickly extinguish the fire
The tourists, who are from South America, were asleep when the fire broke out inside a bedroom just before 4am on Friday.
One of the tenants was woken by the sound of "small explosions" before alerting the other three.
As the fire took hold, two of the tourists were forced to escape the building through a window while the others exited via the front door.
One of the tenants, Maria Ferro, said she was "in shock" and felt "very lucky to get out".
"They had a bike battery in their room, it exploded, we tried to get out of the apartment really quick but it burned pretty fast," she said.
"The guys from the room that the battery exploded they got out of the main door but we had to jump from the window to the neighbours' door.
"There was no way to get out of the apartment other than the window as the fire was spreading to the living room."
Fourteen residents in adjoining units were evacuated as well.
'There is not much left'
Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) firefighters were called to the scene and managed to quickly extinguish the blaze.
No-one was injured but the tourists lost their personal possessions in the fire including passports, mobiles phones and bank records.
Ms Ferro said there was nothing much left after the blaze.
"We went to grab the last things that were there but there is not much left to be honest," she said.
Catering business owner Karen Lewis said her shop, which is located below the complex, was damaged and unusable because of the fire.
"I had to wait for the police, ambulance and the fire brigade to give us the OK to go in and check what happened. Ausgrid has turned all our power off due to the water damage," she said.
"Upstairs is just all charred, the doors are half missing, the beds are just springs, there are no actual mattresses, everything is just black."
FRNSW and NSW Police Force conducted an investigation into the fire and found a faulty lithium-ion battery was the cause of the blaze.
The battery was left on charge in a bedroom overnight and ignited.
FRNSW has reminded the public to be aware of the dangers of using lithium-ion batteries.
The apartment complex was fitted with smoke alarms and an automatic fire door at the time.
It comes two weeks after a large fire tore through an e-bike repair shop at Croydon in Sydney's inner west.
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2024-01-19 05:24:25Z
CBMiVmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDI0LTAxLTE5L25zdy1lLWJpa2UtZmlyZS1ub3J0aC1ib25kaS1hcGFydG1lbnQvMTAzMzY5Njk00gEoaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAuYWJjLm5ldC5hdS9hcnRpY2xlLzEwMzM2OTY5NA
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