PMD Batteries Start A Fire In Marsiling Flat; Elderly Man Brought To Hospital

Personal Mobility Devices (PMDs) have garnered a rather negative rep in recent years, no doubt attributed to their wayward disciples:

E-scooters.

Having paved the way to utter destruction in numerous cases, e-scooters can now be mentioned in the same breath as pure poisonous waste:

Toxic af.

But alright, to be fair, it tends to be the rider’s fault in 99.9% of the cases, so maybe I’m giving e-scooters more flak than they really deserve. But even so, PMDs still warrant some of the blame, whether it’s their free-wheeling style…

Or their batteries, that seem more and more prone to fire breakouts.

PMD Batteries Start A Fire In Marsiling Flat; Elderly Man Brought To Hospital

A(nother) fire broke out in a flat at Marsiling this morning after an incident involving several personal mobility devices (PMD) batteries.

An elderly man had to be taken to the hospital.

According to CNA, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) responded to the fire on the 11th floor of Block 214, Marsiling Lane at around 4.30am

The fire was apparently extinguished with buckets of water by an occupant in the house before the SCDF turned up.

Electric Origin

According to reports, the elderly man, who was in the unit at the time, was brought to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital for smoke inhalation.

The SCDF has since accredited the main cause of the fire to a PMD battery fault. Again.

“Preliminary investigation into the cause of the fire indicates that it was of electrical origin from one of three PMD batteries which were charging at the time of the fire,” said SCDF.

Cause For Concern

In recent weeks, the safety of PMDs has come under a whole new level of scrutiny.

Just yesterday, it was reported that a food delivery’s e-scooter caught fire along Fernvale Street in Sengkang last Saturday (28 September).

And around two weeks ago, a fire emerged in the bedroom of a flat in Sengkang. Preliminary investigations have since indicated the fire to have been caused by a PMD that was charging at the time.

And So… Wanna Chuck Your PMD Away?

Now I understand.

You’ve got a soft spot for your PMD. After all, you’ve braved torrential rain together. Harsh sun rays. Foggy haze. Long story short…

You’ve weathered it all together.

But hey, as a Wise Old Man once said in Chinese:

“You never throw the old things, how to get the new things in?”

And so, here’s a Don’t Say Bojio. Authorities are now offering cash and free disposal of PMDs that do not meet new fire-safety standards, ahead of next July’s ban on the usage of such devices.

Registered e-scooter owners who come forth with their non-UL227 e-scooters for disposal at designated disposal points (until 30 Nov 2019) will qualify for an early disposal incentive of $100 per registered e-scooter.

So really… what better time to dispose of that PMD…

…than now?

Don’t say bojio ah!