- Sell-out immersive exhibition in Bristol sees nearly 500 people attend
- House of hazards exhibit sees young people observe and escape a mock e-scooter fire
- New FOI figures reveal 14 e-bike and e-scooter fires in the home in Avon in 2025 alone
Hundreds of people, young and old across Bristol and the West have attended a new interactive exhibit warning them of the dangers of battery fires.
The experience, run by Lifeskills safety education centre on Spike Island and part funded by Electrical Safety First, attracted more than 450 visitors to its sell-out public launch event.
While the open day welcomed families and local residents, the enhanced scenario has been designed to educate children and young people participating in the centre's year-round safety education programme.
“It is amazing to see this new interactive experience and to see so many young people captivated by it. The centre brings to life electrical hazards, including the growing risks of lithium-ion batteries, such as those in e-bikes and e-scooters,” Lesley Rudd, chief executive of Electrical Safety First, said. “The dedicated rooms recreate electrical hazards that are very real risks young people across the West are already facing. Crucially this experience not only demonstrates the dangers if things go wrong but gives young people the knowledge to prevent fires and stay safe. We are delighted with the really positive response and great turn out from local people across Bristol and beyond.” The experience comes as new freedom of information figures obtained by Electrical Safety First show 14 domestic fires caused by e-bikes and e-scooters were recorded by Avon Fire Service in 2025, compared with just a single incident in 2020.
As part of the experience children were shown a battery powered e-scooter left in a doorway within a mock up house. Visual effects see the scooter flash, bang and pour with smoke to simulate the beginning of a fire.
A third room showed a bedroom devastated by a battery fire, giving children pause for thought on the consequences of substandard products and unsafe charging habits.
Sam Jury, partnership and development manager at Lifeskills, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Electrical Safety First on such an important and relevant area of safety education. By combining their expertise with Lifeskills’ immersive and experiential approach to learning, we are able to bring updated electrical safety messaging and emerging risks to life in a way that is engaging, memorable and impactful for the thousands of young people and families visiting Lifeskills each year. By helping people recognise risks earlier and build confidence to make safer choices, this partnership will support safer behaviours across homes and communities throughout the region.”
Alongside the immersive electrical home safety scenario, visitors were able to experience a range of realistic environments including a road, shops, railway platform and beach, and meet other partners supporting safety education across the region.
Members of the public can still join the waiting list for future Lifeskills events via Eventbrite:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lifeskills-open-day-tickets-1985501434238