An e-bike shop owner has been dealt a second devastating blow after thieves allegedly looted his business in the days after it was destroyed by a lithium battery fire.
A ferocious blaze tore through Freedom Machine Byron Bay on Byron St about 1pm on April 16, after a faulty battery exploded while a staff member was testing it.
Videos from the scene show thick black smoke billowing from the shopfront. The smoke was visible across the town.
The fire destroyed everything in its path, wiping out up to $1 million worth of stock, tools and equipment.
Shop owner Liam Kelly said the catastrophic blaze — just days before his 60th birthday — was “utter devastation”.
“Everything that I have burnt ... I just don’t think I can handle it,” he told 7NEWS.com.au.
“It was an inferno effectively.”
Kelly was on his way back from Sydney when the fire broke out. He arrived to find the flames already extinguished — leaving behind only blackened rubble.
He said the blaze began when staff members were testing a faulty lithium battery brought in by a customer, triggering a chain reaction.
“There were a lot of other e-bikes and batteries in the shop and they all ignited,” he said.
In minutes, the entire inventory, tools, workspace and computers were gone.
Due to the nature of the fire, Kelly said insurance is unlikely to cover the full extent of the damage, leaving him to shoulder significant financial losses.
“It’s a shock ... and then you have to deal with reality,” he said.
“That means dealing with staff, customers, suppliers — and the repercussions of everything that’s been lost.”
Having run the business for four years, Kelly said every dollar had been reinvested into the shop, and he relied on it to survive.
“This business isn’t just our job, it’s our life. We don’t own a house,” Kelly’s son Xavier wrote on a GoFundMe page set up to support the family.
But the devastation didn’t end there.
Kelly said in the days after the fire, thieves broke into the property and stole items that had survived the blaze, including rental bikes stored downstairs.
He said the garage door had been damaged in the fire, allowing access to the area.
“People stealing and looting after someone’s had their whole livelihood burnt from underneath them,” Kelly said.
The family now faces finding a new shopfront while dealing with the financial and emotional fallout.
Kelly urged people not to use chargers that did not come with their e-bike, and to avoid buying second-hand batteries from platforms such as Facebook Marketplace and WhatsApp.
He also warned against leaving batteries charging unattended or exposed to rain, which can cause water damage.
“I don’t want anyone else to end up in my situation,” he said.
