Woman tapes over hotel smoke alarm to vape while e-scooter catches fire
A court has heard a woman taped over a smoke alarm so she could vape in peace.
However, it wasn’t the vaping that set fire to the Oaks Embassy Hotel room, it was her e-scooter.
The woman taped over the smoke alarm because the vape had been setting it off and she was being fined each time it happened.
That was the first bad move.
The second was taking the e-scooter into the hotel room and leaving it on charge.
Jessica Rose Jones faced the Adelaide Magistrates Court this week accused of causing thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to the room.
Jones applied for bail but was already on supervised bail at the time of the fire.
“It’s alleged that while staying at The Oaks Embassy, the accused and her partner went riding on e-scooters and come back to put them on charge,” the prosecutor said.
“The batteries have then essentially exploded and caused a fire.
“The fire alarm wasn’t working at the time because the accused had taped over the alarm, essentially so she could vape in her hotel room without setting off the alarm.
“It’s understood that she had been fined multiple times for setting the alarm off by vaping in the room. It’s not alleged that she intentionally caused a fire, but rather it was a reckless act.”
The 12th floor fire eventually set off the hotel sprinklers, which extinguished the fire but caused extensive damage to multiple floors.
“On level 12, we probably had 50 mill of water through the whole floor, and it has made its way down through to level seven … not through the whole floor, just in certain areas,” the prosecutor said.
Guests were evacuated at the time and the damage is estimated to be around $200,000.
Jones was granted supervised bail and must not return to Oaks Embassy.
The MFS said it was concerned about the rise in the number of fires related to e-bikes and e-scooters.
“When lithium-ion batteries fail they may enter a process called ‘thermal runway’. This involves violent bursting of the battery cells, release of toxic, corrosive, flammable and explosive vapours and gases, and an intense, self-sustaining fire that can be difficult to extinguish,” an MFS spokesperson said.
“Never touch, move or try to extinguish a lithium-ion battery fire. No matter how small the fire might seem, the risk of explosion and release of toxic vapours and gases is high.”
Jonathan Jackson, 9th April 2024
