Overview
- A robotic vacuum suddenly burst into flames and exploded in the kitchen of a Brabham house late last week, leaving walls blackened, windows blown out and four fire trucks to extinguish the blaze.
- The 25-year-old occupant, identified as Lachie Perrem, suffered burns to about 75 percent of his body and remains in a specialist burns unit facing multiple surgeries and a long recovery.
- Western Australia fire investigators (DFES) have preliminarily treated the event as an accident caused by a defect and seized the damaged device before handing it to the Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety (DLGIRS) for detailed forensic testing.
- The household is uninhabitable and the victim's mother has launched a GoFundMe that has raised more than €13,000 to help with medical costs and temporary housing for the victim, his fiancée and housemates.
- Robotic vacuums commonly use lithium-ion batteries that can enter thermal runaway if damaged or faulty, so the regulator's analysis — which has not yet determined whether a battery failure or other electrical fault caused the blast — could trigger safety guidance or a recall.