Two killed in Lake Macquarie house fire may be first NSW deaths linked to lithium-ion batteries [Video]

Two people who were killed in a house fire in Lake Macquarie last week are NSW’s first known fatalities from a blaze caused by a lithium-ion battery.

The fire broke out inside a townhouse on Railway Street in Teralba in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Two occupants were later found dead in the ruins of the house after the blaze, which Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) investigators believe was caused by a lithium-ion battery.

FRNSW said a battery inside the house became compromised around 4am on Thursday, immediately going into “thermal runaway”, where a cell overheats and gives off toxic gases before exploding into flames.

Four people were in the townhouse when the fire broke out.

Two of the people inside safely escaped the intense flames which consumed the house but …