You can buy an electric scooter. You can rent an electric scooter. And of course, you can pick one up off a crowded street. What you can’t do is escape the ridicule that comes with this extremely convenient mode of transportation — particularly not after they explode inside a tech company’s headquarters and cause people to evacuate.
Dropbox had to evacuate its headquarters when an electric scooter caught fire
Another Wednesday in Silicon Valley
Another Wednesday in Silicon Valley
Photo by Sean O’Kane / The verge
is a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.
The San Francisco Fire Department has confirmed to The Verge that Dropbox evacuated its SF headquarters at 333 Brannan Street yesterday after an electric scooter caught fire on the fifth floor of the building. The SFFD says it was able to extinguish the fire, and that no one got hurt.
Based on a photo from Dropbox associate creative director Davy Rudolph, the scooter looks like a match for a fairly cheap ($250-ish) model known as the Tianrun R3 and also sold by RocketX, though it’s not clear which company its owner purchased it from. Cheap hoverboards have been known to occasionally explode in the past, typically because of issues when charging their large, combustible lithium-ion batteries, but we shouldn’t jump to conclusions.
In this case, it sounds like the excitement didn’t really take a big chunk out of the company’s day. Here’s Dropbox’s statement:
We experienced a small fire at 333 Brannan yesterday afternoon. It was quickly put out, no injuries have been reported, and everyone was able to evacuate safely. We’re thankful to the SFFD for their swift response.
Just another Wednesday in Silicon Valley*. Complete with cases of emergency La Croix, apparently!
If you think “schadenfreude” when you hear “scooter” — and why not? I actually like them and I still chuckle along — here are additional Verge stories you may want to browse.
*Yes, I know San Francisco isn’t technically in the valley, I’m from San Jose. I’m writing for a wider audience.
Update, 10:30 PM ET: Added a photo that suggests what kind of scooter caused the fire, if not necessarily which model or why it caught fire.
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