Fires Involving Active Mobility Devices Up By 21.8% In 2024

SCDF says such fires are an area of concern, urges public to use only compliant devices

- Christine Tan and Claudia Tan

More active mobility devices (AMDs) caught fire in 2024, with many of these blazes happening in homes.

In its annual statistics report released on Feb 13, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said there were 67 fires involving AMDs in 2024, up 21.8 per cent from 55 such fires in 2023.

This is the second consecutive year that more AMD fires were reported.

The figure in 2023 was a 31 per cent increase from the 42 fires in 2022. Before that, the number of AMD fires had been dropping steadily between 2019 and 2022.

AMDs include personal mobility devices (PMDs), power-assisted bicycles (PABs) and personal mobility aids (PMAs).

SCDF said AMD fires remain an area of concern, especially those that occur in homes. There were 44 AMD fires in homes in 2024, nine more than in 2023.

The Land Transport Authority said on Jan 22 that non-compliant AMDs have led to six deaths since 2019.

SCDF's report said PABs were the most common type of AMDs involved in fires, with 31 such cases in 2024 and 32 in 2023.

The number of PMDs involved in fires rose from 18 to 25, while the number of PMAs involved in fires more than doubled from five to 11.

When asked why AMD fires continued to rise, an SCDF spokesperson told The Straits Times that a significant number of such fires involve modified devices.

These include those with additional batteries beyond the device's original design, which voids its safety certification.