Heat release and smoke production from burning mobility scooters

BRE Trust and Welwyn Garden City Housing Association (WGC HA) jointly funded a project to examine the characteristics of burning mobility scooters.

Ensuring fire safety for the residents of care homes and sheltered accommodation for the elderly is one of the biggest challenges facing the fire safety community in the coming decades. The need to maintain fire safety provisions in such buildings often conflicts with the every-day life of the occupants.

Key findings

As well as the potential obstruction to escape, there is now a clear and increasing body of evidence to show that mobility scooters present a fire risk in themselves, often while charging, which can result in the production of quantities of smoke and heat.

Report summary

Recognising the need for a better understanding of the fire risks from mobility scooters, the BRE Trust and Welwyn Garden City Housing Association (WGC HA) jointly funded a project to examine the characteristics of burning mobility scooters.