{"id":445850,"date":"2026-11-03T05:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T05:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/445850\/"},"modified":"2026-11-03T05:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T05:56:12","slug":"st-pete-fire-rescue-says-lithium-ion-battery-caused-garage-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/445850\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Pete Fire Rescue says lithium-ion battery caused garage fire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 St. Pete Fire Rescue said a lithium-ion battery started a house fire in St. Petersburg last week. <\/p>\n<p>Rae Zabell said she dropped her son off at school when her neighbors called her about a fire at her home.<\/p>\n<p>The fire started on Tuesday, Oct. 27 around 9 a.m. <\/p>\n<p>Cell phone video shows flames ripping through the back of the home and smoke in the air.<\/p>\n<p>Zabell said her cat was inside, but was rescued. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;From the front of the house, it looks like nothing&#8217;s wrong, but the back of the house is completely gone, and it&#8217;s a 1930s home. We renovated the whole thing ourselves and put so much care and intention into it,&#8221; said Rae Zabell. <\/p>\n<p>St. Pete Fire Rescue said the fire started in the corner of the garage and was caused by a lithium-ion battery. Investigators have not determined which battery or device was responsible.<\/p>\n<p>Zabell said she had several batteries stored in the garage, but they were not plugged in and charging.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We had several power tool batteries, so couple different brands and we also had a remote controlled car. Nothing was plugged in,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>The family said everything inside the home was damaged and smells of smoke. They also lost a recently purchased truck. <\/p>\n<p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DfCbECkNDpS\/?rpxt=enp1dHV6N2JlazVj\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">St. Pete Fire Rescue posted on Instagram<\/a> safety tips about lithium-ion batteries. <\/p>\n<p>Firefighters recommend using the charger recommended by the manufacturer, charge devices on a hard, flat surface, away from beds, couches and other flammable materials. <\/p>\n<p>They also said to keep batteries away from extreme heat and direct sunlight. <\/p>\n<p>Firefighters also said never put lithium-ion batteries in household trash or regular recycling bins. <\/p>\n<p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/standing-with-rae-felipe-and-rio-after-the-fire\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">A GoFundMe page<\/a> is raising money for her family to help rebuild and pay for expenses not covered by insurance. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Unfortunately, the things that can\u2019t be replaced, you know, things I\u2019ve collected over the years. I love vintage, things I love, vintage clothes and items in the home and obviously memorabilia, stockings, Christmas decorations, things that you saved from your family for years, just can\u2019t be replaced,&#8221; said Zabell. <\/p>\n<p>Share Your Story with Julie<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/juliesalomone2.png\"\/><br \/>Julie Salomone works to share the issues that matter to you. And navigating the job market is critical to affording the price of paradise. Julie also focuses on the day-to-day issues in Sarasota County, so be sure to reach out to Julie to start a conversation.<br \/>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/1793685372_262_KATIE.LAGRONE.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Florida brain tumor patient says nearly $1 million in medical bills are now covered after insurance denial<\/p>\n<p>Five months after an insurance fight over brain surgery, Broqsten Bunt says he is medically cleared and has a zero balance on nearly $1 million in billed care.<\/p>\n<p>Brain surgery patients gets billed paid for after insurance denial<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 St. Pete Fire Rescue said a lithium-ion battery started a house fire in St.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[173522,266,167652,596,202,111313,204,203,199,201,200,5910,108336,3670,208],"class_list":["post-445850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-house-fire-st-pete","tag-local-news","tag-news-near-me","tag-pinellas-county","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-fire-rescue","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa-bay-28","tag-tampa-bay-28-news","tag-tampa-bay-local-news","tag-wfts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445850","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=445850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}