Make New York Post a Preferred Source A jaw-dropping e-bike explosion sparked a massive fire that ripped through an Oregon home, wild video captured.
The blazing inferno made easy work of the two-story Troutdale home in a matter of minutes, requiring an immediate response from emergency crews Thursday night, Gresham Fire and Rescue said, according to KOIN.
Shocking video shows the quaint home being devoured by the horrific blast, which was triggered by a faulty e-bike battery that exploded, fire officials confirmed.
Preston Williams, 15, told the local TV station he’d been out riding his e-bike before he took it back home.
The teen said he’d just fixed his bike and left the battery unplugged in the living room when he soon noticed a strange smell in the house – one of the telltale signs of a degraded battery.
“It popped the first time, and then I didn’t know if I should grab the battery and … see what would happen,” Williams said as he smelled the battery while it started to smoke.
Suddenly the battery blew up in the middle of the living room — sending the whole family into a panic.
The teen said he called 911 and waited for first responders outside the home, while his mother ran upstairs to alert their new neighbors, Kelli Gasaway and her partner.
Gasaway compared the blast to “a hand grenade going off underneath you,” before she and her partner, Anthony, rushed out of the home, who’d only started living there a few months ago.
“It was like by the time I got out, there was already smoke completely engulfed in our apartment …before the flames were all the way through upstairs,” she said.
The six tenants of the multifamily home were able to escape in time, though a beloved cat was killed in the fire.
“The timing wise, like we could have been all asleep and it could have happened,” Williams cautioned. “I’m super grateful that everyone was awake.”
