A lithium-ion battery sparked a fire at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland on Tuesday, according to the Portland Fire Department.
Portland Fire Deputy Chief Chad Johnston said the lithium-ion battery in an electric bicycle caught fire in a room on the seventh floor of the hotel.
The bike owners put it in the tub and submerged it in water, which Johnston said his crew would have done.
When firefighters entered the room, it was filled with smoke. Johnston said the bike was broken apart and was placed in a portable water tank to take it out of the hotel.
The battery needs to stay submerged for two weeks.
No one was injured.
Johnston said the fire is “consistent with what they’ve been seeing across the country” with lithium-ion batteries.
This is not the first time a lithium-ion battery has started a fire in Maine.
In May 2023, a Falmouth couple claimed the batteries in their massage gun exploded in the middle of the night, starting a fire in their bedroom.
Also in May 2023, officials said a truck explosion outside the Blaine House in Augusta was caused by a lithium-ion battery failure. The battery was attached to a cordless drill in the back of the pickup parked on Chamberlain Street, according to the Maine fire marshal’s office.
