Two individuals jumped out of an house complicated window within the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco to flee a fireplace that was spreading of their unit on Monday. One of them was critically injured and brought to a hospital burn middle, officers stated.
That terrifying blaze was in all probability brought on by an overheated e-scooter battery that firefighters later noticed plugged in to a charger close to the unit’s entrance door, based on Capt. Jonathan Baxter, a spokesman for the San Francisco Fire Department. It was the twenty fourth fireplace in San Francisco this 12 months that has been linked to rechargeable batteries, he instructed me.
The metropolis isn’t alone. Fires related to rechargeable batteries have had a devastating impact in New York City, ripping by buildings together with public housing complexes and luxurious towers — and have killed greater than 20 individuals there since 2021.
“Fortunately, we’re not seeing it to that same degree here in San Francisco,” Baxter instructed me. “However, one fire is one too many.”
Battery-related fires have elevated steadily in San Francisco as e-bikes and e-scooters have proliferated lately. According to the Fire Department, there have been 202 battery fires within the metropolis since 2017, killing one particular person and injuring eight. Fifty-eight of them broke out final 12 months, up from 13 in 2017, and this 12 months is on a tempo to equal or exceed 2022.
The figures embody fires linked to rechargeable batteries utilized in e-scooters and e-bikes (the commonest culprits) in addition to electrical automobiles, bikes and skateboards.
While dozens of constructions have been broken, a majority of the fires have erupted at homeless encampments, the place, Baxter instructed me, persons are in all probability tinkering with electrical scooters and different automobiles in ways in which make them extra prone to burst into flames.
As my colleagues in New York have reported, off-market, refurbished, broken or improperly charged lithium-ion batteries can explode, igniting fast-moving fires which might be troublesome to extinguish. Lithium-ion batteries are additionally utilized in computer systems and cellphones, however so-called micro-mobility automobile batteries are larger and are typically broken by a number of put on and tear, consultants say.
“All it takes is for one small battery cell to be defective, overcharged or damaged, and a tremendous amount of energy is released in the form of heat and toxic flammable gases all at once,” Daniel Murray, the New York Fire Department’s chief of hazmat operations, instructed The New York Times.
E-bikes and e-scooters are much less regulated than electrical automobiles, which begin fewer fires regardless that they require way more vitality. Hoping to get forward of the hearth drawback, New York will ban the sale of e-bikes and related gadgets that don’t meet acknowledged security requirements, beginning in September; it’s the primary American metropolis to do this.
Officials in San Francisco are warning residents to not cost e-bikes or e-scooters whereas they’re asleep, or to make use of any charging gadget aside from these made by the bike or scooter’s producer. And they are saying that if a battery fireplace does erupt in your house, don’t attempt to put it out your self — you in all probability can’t. Instead, evacuate straight away and name 911.
Read extra e-bike and e-scooter security suggestions from the National Fire Protection Association.
Where we’re touring
Today’s tip comes from Luann Chou, who lives in Redondo Beach. Luann recommends San Juan Capistrano:
“If you’re adventurous, you can take the train in via the Pacific Surfliner (operated by Amtrak), which lands you right where you want to be, Los Rios Historical District, an easy walking area filled with shops, restaurants and even an adorable teahouse. My favorite spot is Five Vines Wine Bar, which is run by a family of five. You can create your own flights, and they have a wine club with wonderfully unique wines. They have an extensive food menu, too. On your way out, make sure you pick up some bread at FKN Bread.”
Tell us about your favourite locations to go to in California. Email your options to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We’ll be sharing extra in upcoming editions of the e-newsletter.
Tell us
What are the most effective books about California or the a part of the state the place you reside? What fiction or nonfiction would you placed on a Golden State studying checklist, and why?
Email us at CAtoday@nytimes.com along with your options. Please embody your title and town the place you reside.
And earlier than you go, some good news
The title says all of it.
The Chaotic Singles Party is a month-to-month occasion the place singles can meet different singles, however provided that they carry a random Tinder match as their plus one.
The idea was created by Cassidy Davis, who struggled with courting in Los Angeles throughout the pandemic. On Valentine’s Day in 2022, she instructed her single feminine pals to ask random males from their courting apps to her home for a celebration. Then she determined to ask 65 males off Tinder.
Davis uploaded movies of the occasion to TikTok, and so they went viral. She has been throwing the occasions ever since.
The events supply reduction from utilizing courting apps — a form of solace that an increasing number of persons are looking for. At one latest occasion in New York, romantic hopefuls carrying white title tags sipped drinks and virtually screamed in dialog as pop music blared.
Godfrey Butler, 26, an I.T. discipline technician, arrived alone after discovering the occasion on Eventbrite two days earlier. “I was trying to be a brave soldier,” he stated, including that his courting life had been in a “rough patch.”
Source: www.nytimes.com