Boy, 7, and Teen Dead in 'Explosion of Fire' Sparked by E-Bike Battery at N.Y.C. Home: 'Terrible Tragedy'
Officials said the fast-moving blaze at a Queens, N.Y., residence began after an e-bike's lithium-ion battery burst into flames while it charged near a way out of the home
A child and teenager have died in a New York City residential fire that officials said was sparked by a lithium-ion battery.
The deadly blaze began Monday afternoon in the first-floor vestibule of a home on 46th Street in Queens, according to N.Y.C Fire Department Chief John Hodgens.
Officials believe the blaze began after an e-bike's battery burst into flames, Hodgens said at a press conference.
The bike was apparently parked by the front door of the home, making it difficult for occupants to escape, he added.
The two-alarm fire "was able to travel directly up the stairs," trapping six people on an upper level, Hodgens said.
A father and three of the children managed to jump out of windows, but two were unable to escape the flames, according to the fire chief.
The victims who died in the blaze are said to be a 7-year-old boy and a 19-year-old woman, NBC affiliate WNBC and The New York Times reported.
Hodgens said the victims were found in a front room, where "the heaviest fire involvement was."
"It's a terrible tragedy," Hodgens told reporters Monday at the scene of the blaze.
"We lost two people today," Chief Fire Marshal Dan Flynn said at the same press conference. "We were fortunate not to lose six."
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Two parents and five children lived in the second-floor apartment impacted by Monday's fire, Hodgens said. The mother was not home when the fire began.
A second family lives in an apartment on the first floor of the building, according to the fire chief. A door prevented the fire from extending "too deeply" into their apartment, he said.
Instead, the fire moved to the second-floor apartment, which quickly became engulfed in flames, Hodgens told reporters.
"If this was not an e-bike fire, most likely, we would have been able to put this fire out without incident," he explained. "But the way these fires occur, it's like an explosion of fire and these occupants had very little chance of escaping."
Officials believe the e-bike was being charged with an "after-market charger" when the fire began, Flynn said Monday.
"We want people to use them, but we want them to use them safely," the fire marshal said. "We want people to purchase chargers that are compatible with the devices that they purchase. Do not buy the cheapest option."
Hodgens said the department has also warned the public of the dangers that come with keeping one of these devices "anywhere near your exit" in any building, but "especially if you keep them in your home."
"We implore everybody to please, be very careful and aware of the danger of these devices," he added.
Monday's fire is the 59th blaze in N.Y.C. that was started by a lithium-ion battery in this year alone, Flynn said.
Five people have died from such fires in the last three months, compared to just six total deaths in 2022, he added.
"This continues to be a tremendous problem for us," the fire marshal told reporters Monday.
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