Displaced Winnipeg family says fire that gutted home was caused by e-bike

A family has been forced to find a new home after the house they rented in Winnipeg was completely gutted in a fire that they say was caused by an electronic bike.

Catherine Beardy says she, her five young children and two of her brothers had to flee the two-storey house on Toronto Street where she had been living for about two years on Thursday night.

The city says the cause of the fire is still under investigation, but Beardy says it began once one of the batteries of the two e-bikes the family uses to commute suddenly burst into flames.

"I came down; the bike was engulfed and shooting out battery acid," she said. "I ran upstairs to get my kids, and when we came down it was already black and all lit up — and I couldn't get my dogs."

Snowflake and Snowball, two white bulldogs that Beardy says grew up with her children, died in the fire.

The family is living in a hotel for now, with some assistance from the Red Cross. But Beardy said they don't know how long they'll be there.

"We lost everything," she said. "I've had family help me with clothing and food and stuff. It's not easy asking for help."

Chris Romero, Beardy's husband, was out of the city for work when the fire happened. He said his family told him that one of the bikes had been charging overnight when it suddenly exploded.

Romero said he's had the bikes for less than a year — one purchased from Facebook Marketplace and another from a big-box retailer — and that they still looked brand new.

"In Vancouver — I go out there a lot to work and stuff — there's electric bikes all over the city," he said.

"These big companies that sell these electric bikes, they leave these batteries charging all night until they come back in the morning and then people use them and rent them. So I never thought it would be a problem."

Roberta Owen, Beardy's aunt, has been helping out her niece's family.

"This is the second family I've heard in the last I think seven months that this has happened to," she said. "If this happened again to somebody else … what if the next time they ain't so lucky?"

The batteries that power e-bikes — lithium-ion batteries — are also found in laptops, phones and other electronic devices. They're easier to damage and more unstable than other types of batteries, according to Health Canada.