SARASOTA, Fla. — The Sarasota County Fire Department said a battery from an e-bike caused a house fire in Sarasota earlier this month.
The fire started around 2:50 pm. on June 13, 2026 at a home on Castle Drive.
Robert Gilbert said his wife and two older sons were home at the time. He said his mother-in-law and two other sons were not home.
The family heard a loud noise. A charging battery caught on fire in one of the bedrooms.
"We heard a loud bang. My wife and I jumped up and run into the room...There's a fireball on the ground, and I ran and got our fire extinguishers. We have two big nice ones that we keep in the house. I went to put it out and it blew up again," said Robert.
Robert said his family made it out of the home. He said one of their dogs made it out, but they could not locate the second dog.
Firefighters later found their dog, Sophie, hiding underneath a bed. She was not injured.
"The other one was my mother-in-law's small Chihuahua, and it was nowhere to be found. We couldn't find it in the heat of the moment and then we just kind of expected that it went out the back door — couldn't find her outside. When we couldn't find her outside, we ended up getting them to look through the house. About an hour and a half later, they found her underneath the bed, alive, and she made it through," said Robert.
The fire department said a lithium-ion battery that was charging caused the fire.
"This was the original charger from a very expensive e-bike. It’s a removable battery. My boys were riding it the morning of, and they let it cool down, plugged it in a few hours. It was charging for at least an hour, hour and a half, and then it went up," said Robert.
"I'm thankful it didn't happen at night because if my kids were sleeping in the room, it could've been way more catastrophic," said Robert.
Kristi Pentecost started a GoFundMe page for the family. The family was renting the home, but lost all of their belongings.
"I love the thought of getting behind this cause to also spread awareness of what happened. The cause of it with the lithium-ion battery and wanting people to be aware, and it made me look at all my electronics in the house," said Pentecost.
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