{"id":239500,"date":"2026-04-20T21:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T21:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/239500\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T21:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T21:48:11","slug":"south-florida-homeowner-avoids-house-fire-after-wheelchair-battery-explodes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/239500\/","title":{"rendered":"South Florida homeowner avoids house fire after wheelchair battery explodes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A South Florida homeowner heard clicking from a thrifted wheelchair\u2014after moving it outside, the lithium battery exploded, narrowly avoiding a house fire.<\/p>\n<p>Firefighters with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodfl.org\/95\/Fire-Rescue-Beach-Safety\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Hollywood Fire Rescue and Beach Safety<\/a> say she was inside her residence when she heard an unusual clicking sound coming from the battery pack of a used electric wheelchair she had recently purchased from a thrift store. <\/p>\n<p>Recognizing that something wasn\u2019t right, she chose not to ignore the noise. Instead, she immediately unplugged the chair and moved it outside.<\/p>\n<p>Moments later, the lithium battery exploded.<\/p>\n<p>Ring camera footage shows the homeowner standing at a safe distance as a hissing noise grows louder, sparks escalate into an explosion, and flames quickly follow.<\/p>\n<p>See also: <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/local\/29-year-old-found-dead-in-boynton-beach-death-ruled-homicide-investigation-jordan-scales-murder-florida-crime-death-boynton-beach-police-department-bbpd-south-federal-highway-wooded-area-transient-victim-detectives-news-palm-beach-county-u\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">29-year-old &#8216;transient&#8217; found dead in Boynton Beach, death ruled homicide<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Firefighters credit her quick thinking for helping her avoid a potentially devastating house fire.<\/p>\n<p>The homeowner then called for help, a decision experts say was critical in preventing what could have become a lithium battery fire. <\/p>\n<p>Investigators say the wheelchair had been charging with a non-manufacturer charger, which can increase the risk of overheating or overloading lithium-ion batteries.<\/p>\n<p>Helpful battery safety tips:<\/p>\n<p>Stop using a device if you hear clicking, popping, or hissing, or see swelling.Move it to a noncombustible area if safe.Use the correct charger: cheap or incompatible chargers can be dangerous.Check the battery for excess heat while charging.Never leave batteries charging unattended.Call 911 if you see smoke or signs of thermal runaway.Comment with Bubbles<\/p>\n<p>BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT<\/p>\n<p>Fire officials are using the incident to serve as an important reminder: when it comes to lithium batteries, early warning signs should not be ignored.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A South Florida homeowner heard clicking from a thrifted wheelchair\u2014after moving it outside, the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-239500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}