FIRE chiefs have blamed a faulty e-scooter for a devastating blaze that tore through seven houses.
Dozens of people were forced to flee their homes on Wednesday night as the fire devastated a terrace.
The inferno started in a three-storey property before rapidly spreading along the roof of a row of neighbouring homes in Gosport, Hampshire.
Yesterday the fire service issued a stark warning on the safe charging and storing of electric scooters and bikes.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service said: “The initial reports and the preliminary fire investigation has found that an e-scooter is the most likely cause of the fire.
“The main danger occurs when e-bikes and e-scooters are left on charge and unattended in homes or in communal areas such as hallways and stairwells.
“Charging lithium batteries indoors increases the fire risk, especially if charged overnight when occupants are sleeping.”
Fire station manager Lacey Plumbley said of the dangers: “E-bikes and e-scooters with lithium-ion batteries can catch fire quickly and with little warning.
“Thankfully everyone managed to evacuate the properties safely, but a number of families have seen their homes severely damaged as a result of this fire.
“We are urging people to keep an eye on their e-scooter and e-bikes when they are charging them and to think carefully about where they store them.
“Ideally they should be stored outside, but if they have to be stored inside avoid blocking emergency escape routes.”
Nine adults and four children had to be evacuated from one of the houses after the fire broke out at around 9.40pm.
At the height of the incident, ten fire engines, an aerial ladder platform and specialist vehicles were on the scene with more than 60 firefighters working to control the blaze through the night.
Fiona Taylor, who lives nearby, said: “It was just an inferno and it happened so quickly and it just spread.
“The air was full of smoke, it was acrid, it hit the back of your throat, it was awful.
“It was harrowing and horrific to watch because you knew your neighbours were watching their houses go up one by one.”
The fire spread through seven of the eight houses in the terrace.
Most of the roofs have since collapsed and the structure is so dangerous that many families cannot return to their homes.
Terri Morgan and Jayson Carter, who fled the blaze in their pyjamas, returned to the property to find a scene of “utter devastation”.
Terri told the BBC: “I heard this huge bang and went to the front door and I saw the flames.
“We got out through the back way and watched it unfold before we were moved away for our safety.
“Everything is just gone. I don’t know what I was expecting.”
