Dewberry said the residents had hired the e-bike to get around and had left the battery on charge while they slept.

“Don’t charge them when you’re asleep. You don’t smell smoke when you’re asleep,and we’ve had a couple of events now with lucky escapes and the battery has failed and caught fire while the residents were asleep,” Dewberry said.

“Our advice is just don’t do it,and make sure you have working smoke alarms.”

Firefighters are grappling with anincrease in e-bike and e-scooter fires in Sydney. Low-quality products that don’t have safety features that will switch off when overcharging are often the culprit.

Lithium-ion batteries can cause “thermal runaway incidents” in which the battery overheats and emits toxic gas. The explosive fire is hard to put out and prone to reignition.

Last month three food delivery riders were rushed to hospital,one with extensive burns after an e-bike battery caught fire in their Annandale apartment.

The roommates had finished their delivery shifts about 3am and were charging their bikes downstairs while they slept during the day.

The battery exploded,significantly damaging the home.

The fire was almost identical to afire last October at the Mad Monkey hostel in Potts Point. CCTV captured the dramatic moment an e-bike battery exploded.

Two men were seen running for their lives as flames pushed out of the room into the hallway.

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