Fire sparked by e-scooter battery seriously injures one, destroys apartment in SF

An e-scooter battery sparked a fire Sunday afternoon, sending one victim to the burn unit with serious injuries and rendering uninhabitable an apartment at 2242 Polk St. between Green and Vallejo streets, according to Capt. Jonathan Baxter of the San Francisco Fire Department.

The Polk Gulch fire began when the lithium-ion battery was being charged. "We don't know the brand of the scooter at this time," Baxter said.

The seriously injured neighbor lives in an adjoining unit that was not damaged.

The fire was contained to the location on the fourth floor of the building, and no one has been displaced because of the fire. The resident in the uninhabitable unit has been able to secure housing elsewhere, Baxter said.

The fire was first announced at 12:06 p.m., and firefighters had contained the fire within 30 minutes, according to Bay City News.

E-scooters have caused a variety of issues across the city, and some are calling for them to be more strictly regulated.