Two charged ebikes, stored outside a ground-floor unit of a Barrie Road apartment building, erupted in flames late Friday night.
"The heat from the fire broke two windows in a ground-floor unit," said Orillia Deputy Fire Chief Chris Ferry.
Firefighters were able to control and extinguish the fire before it extended inside the unit at 250 Barrie Rd. Ferry said there was some smoke damage in the unit where the windows were broken.
There were no injuries reported.
Ferry said fires involving anything with a lithium-ion battery are "harder to extinguish and take large volumes of water to extinguish and cool."
He noted that even once such a fire is extinguished, "we have to continually cool the batteries as they can generate heat and smoulder for extended periods of time."
Ferry said battery-powered cars and trucks can take upwards of 30,000 gallons of water to extinguish and cool.
"In this case we were able to take the large lithium-ion battery pack out of one of the e-bikes and submerged it in a large garbage container," Ferry told OrilliaMatters.
"We asked that building management keep the battery pack submerged for the next few weeks," said Ferry.
"We always suggest people charge their phones, computers, and iPads on hard surfaces because the batteries generate heat when charging," said Ferry.
"If personal mobility devices are brought into your home or apartment, keep them out of your exit ways," said Ferry, stressing e-bikes should always be charged and kept outside.
Ferry estimated damages related to the fire at about $40,000.
In addition to 10 Orillia firefighters, Simcoe County paramedics and Orillia OPP officers also attended the Barrie Road fire, Ferry said.
