A dog was rescued from a burning Western Sydney unit on Tuesday morning, as a fire raged in the unit complex at Lethbridge Park about 3am.
Residents from the adjoining units, who were in the building on Hawaii Ave at the time, fled from the flames.
They alerted attending firefighters to the second-storey unit, where another man was believed to be sleeping inside.
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The unaccounted for resident was not inside, but firefighters who forced entry into the second-storey unit found his pet dog under the bed.
“They got him out quickly,” Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) superintendent Adam Dewberry said.
“The occupant actually returned a short time later, they were only close by at a friend’s house.
“A tragedy has been avoided here this morning.”
The blaze took 16 firefighters 20 minutes to extinguish, and the dog and its owner were reunited as FRNSW teams continued to investigate the cause of the fire.
“We’ve identified the cause of this fire — it was a failed lithium battery that belongs to an e-bike,” Dewberry said.
The e-bike was found in the kitchen of the second-storey unit, which had been gutted by the fire, and the e-bike battery was located on the kitchen bench.
“Whether it was being charged or not is still being investigated,” Dewberry said.
Despite “severe damage” to the unit, Dewberry said working fire alarms and quick-moving neighbours were to thank for an outcome that “could have been a lot worse.”
The e-bike which sparked the fire had been “purchased secondhand some time ago,” Dewberry said, and the FRNSW superintendent warned people to buy lithium batteries only from reputable retail outlets.
“Always be careful if you’re buying secondhand. Never ever modify them to try to make them last longer or go faster,” he said.
As the number of e-bike battery fires continue to increase in the state, FRNSW advised the public to “only use cords and chargers supplied with the device” and to avoid “inferior or different voltage replacement components.”
“Do not over-charge batteries.”
FRNSW also urged e-bike users to ensure devices are neither charged in the room where they are sleeping, nor anywhere that blocks an escape path.
