Fire and rescue services around the country have attended numerous serious fires involving mobility scooters.
These are often stored and left to charge in areas such as corridors and staircases, which are classed as sterile areas and should be free from combustible materials and ignition sources.
The sterile area often makes up the main means of escape route for residents and visitors within the living accommodation. This could be a block of flats, sheltered accommodation, a residential care home or other similar communal living accommodation.
The practice of storing mobility scooters in sterile areas poses an unacceptable risk to residents and visitors, and must be discouraged in all cases.
Effective management controls must be in place to ensure that means of escape are not used for storage of combustible materials, or items that will block or impede the safe exit of residents and visitors in the event of a fire.
Mobility scooters should not be stored, parked or charged in staircases, enclosures or communal corridors forming part of means of escape routes within buildings. Mobility scooters introduce a considerable fire loading, as well as being an obstruction hazard within these areas.
Please use the following link to view the National Fire Chiefs Council guidance on mobility scooters in residential buildings.
For more information relating to batteries or E-Scooters/E-Bikes, please visit the pages below:
Batteries
E-scooters/E-bikes