‘It was like a bomb’: 6 escape after e-bike battery explosion sparks fire

Six people were able to escape an Oregon residence on Thursday after an e-bike’s lithium battery exploded in the house. One cat died after the blast rocked the home in Troutdale, KGW reported.Read more trending news Witnesses and security cameras confirmed that the battery was unplugged on top of a padded chair when it began smoking, popping and emitting an odor, according to the television station. It exploded moments later, setting the two-story, wood-frame house on fire.Preston Williams, 15, told KOIN he was inside the house and smelled something strange.“It smelled like something was like dying and rotting, but like, there wasn’t, like, a direct area,” Preston said. “It popped the first time, and then I didn’t know if I should grab the battery and … see what would happen. “And so I decided just to film it and see what happened. That’s when like, everything started popping. It was like a bomb.”Kelli Gasaway, who lived in the upstairs portion of the house, compared the explosion to t