A Leander, Texas family is picking up the pieces after a devastating fire, ignited by an overheated lithium-ion battery, engulfed their home last week. The father, Sean Noll, was at work when the fire broke out, leaving his two sons to flee to a neighbor's house. The blaze, which was first reported around 12:04 p.m. on Friday, was battled by the Leander Fire Department, but not before it claimed the family's residence and the lives of two of their cats, with a third recovering in the hospital, and only one unharmed, as reported by KXAN.
Watching helplessly from his Ring camera, Noll described to KXAN the harrowing experience. "I was watching all this unfold on my ring camera," he said. "I can't believe all this happened in less than 30 minutes." Tragically, two sons were at home when the fire started, the city confirmed that the battery for their cordless vacuum was the culprit. Moderate smoke was initially reported by the first crew, arriving approximately five minutes after the call. The situation escalated quickly once the door was opened, with flames rolling out over the heads of the firefighters.
"The oldest one, you know, noticed the smell, turned, and saw the battery had just basically, you know, started a little fire," Noll said, as per KVUE. The neighbor's attempts to contain the fire were in vain, and Noll was alerted while rushing back from his job. His security cameras captured the disaster as it unfolded. "The realization kind of kicked in like, 'Wow, I just really – wow, just like that, I just lost everything,'" Noll added.
In the fire's aftermath, Noll expressed a tragic sense of relief that, despite losing everything he and his family-owned, his sons were unharmed. "Every time I think about that, it sends a big shiver down my spine because they could have easily been, you know, sleeping," he confided to KVUE. Furthermore, Noll's sister, Amanda Bianchi, immediately began organizing support for the family, setting up a GoFundMe page, and coordinating a donation drive through Danielson Middle School to provide the boys with essentials. She also emphasized the importance of battery safety. "If you have any device with a lithium battery to see, keep an eye on it," Bianchi quoted.
