Electric scooters cause of smoky business fire, Kelowna Fire Department says

The Kelowna Fire Department said electric scooters were to blame for a smoky business fire on Wednesday morning.

Brown smoke could be seen billowing out of a business at 1974 Moss Court after firefighters opened a bay door at the complex.

“We really didn’t know what was burning when we arrived on scene,” said platoon captain John Kelly, “because the business was locked up.

“But we forced entry into the building and discovered it’s a scooter rental shop, and they’re battery-operated. It looks like one of the scooters overcharged, or overheated, and caused a fire.”

Kelly said the fire caused a lot of smoke, but that the fire was contained to the scooters and a small part of a nearby wall.

The cause of the fire was deemed to be electrical, and that it involved several scooters.

Kelly added smoke migrated into the second floor and other businesses.

2:12 Alberta equine therapy barn goes up in flames, owner vows to rebuild

A witness, Chad Kyllo, said he was working in the second storey of the complex, upstairs from the locked ground-floor business, when a fellow employee smelled electrical smoke.

“We walked around the office for a bit trying to find it,” Kyllo told Global News, “and then eventually we all left and called the fire department.”

Four fire engines and 18 firefighters were on scene, which Kelly said was a standard response when reports come in of smoke in a building.

“But once we got in there, and got on it, it was all taken care of.”