Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) investigators today have confirmed a fire at North Bondi, in Sydney’s east, was sparked by a faulty Lithium-ion battery.
Four visitors from South America were asleep inside a unit in Curlewis Street, near Old South Head Road, when the blaze broke out just before 4am.
One of them was woken by the sound of small explosions; they alerted the other occupants before they fled the smoke-filled building.
Two of the people were forced to make their escape through a window.
Fourteen people from adjoining units were also evacuated as a precaution.
FRNSW firefighters attended the scene and quickly extinguished the fire, with damage contained to the unit in which it started.
The unit was fitted with working smoke alarms, while the building’s automatic fire door activated, limiting the spread of fire and smoke.
As a result of the fire, the occupants have lost all their personal possessions, including passports, phones and bank records, but have acknowledged to fire crews they were lucky to escape with their lives.
Experts from FRNSW’s Fire Investigation and Research Unit (FIRU) have been working with NSW Police to determine what sparked the fire.
Investigations have established an e-bike battery was left on-charge in a bedroom and ignited.
FRNSW is reminding the public about the dangers of Lithium-ion batteries.