A Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) spokesman said a crew from St Kilda responded to reports of a smoke-filled car in a park outside Kmart in Andersons Bay Rd on Saturday.
Firefighters broke into the car and located the source of the fire — a lithium-ion battery pack that had burnt itself out in the vehicle.
"The fire had mostly put itself out when the crews arrived,"" he said.
The crew located the owner of the car and left it in their hands.
It was reminder for the public to be vigilant around the use of and storage of battery power packs, he said.
The pack was not on fire when the crew arrived but they doused it with a CO2 extinguisher to be certain.
In a statement, Fenz said it was important to take care when using lithium-ion batteries as they were a fire risk when not stored, charged, used, or disposed of correctly.
Devices and batteries should not be left in direct sunlight or where they could be exposed to heat or moisture.
— Allied Media
