Family left homeless after e-scooter catches fire

A family has been left homeless after an e-scooter overheated while charging and caught fire.

The blaze happened at a house in Steeple Morden, near Bassingbourn in Cambridgeshire, at about 21:50 BST on Friday.

Station commander Rob Foreman said it was a "very challenging" incident that also involved the rescue of three cats.

"Firefighters worked extremely hard to try and contain the fire, but it had already spread throughout the downstairs of the property," he added.

The family were awake when they realised the fire had broken out in their kitchen, where the e-scooter was on charge.

Crews from Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire used breathing apparatus to enter the property and put the blaze out.

"This shows how quickly a fire can spread when a battery overheats and goes into thermal runaway," Mr Foreman said.

It was one of 14 fires attended by the Cambridgeshire service in 2025 that involved batteries.

E-scooters or e-bikes were the cause of about half of those, it said.

"This is why it is really important to not only charge batteries while awake and alert, but also consider where items are being charged," Mr Foreman added.

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