WASHINGTON (TND) — New York City Fire Department officials responded to a 911 call from a Manhattan apartment building on Saturday morning as a fire blazed on the building's 20th floor.
In a news conference Saturday afternoon, FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh told reporters that the cause of the fire was a lithium ion battery for a micro mobility device, such as an electronic bike (e-bike).
38 people were injured in the incident, with two critically wounded, five people with serious injuries and the rest minor, according to Kavanagh.
Joseph Pataki, Chief of the New York EMS Academy, said that number will likely increases as more residents of the high-rise come down and get evaluated by medical personnel.
FDNY Chief Frank Leeb said that fire fighters were confronted with a "heavy fire condition" on 20th floor that required a procedure of last resort – a rope rescue – to save one of the residents of that floor. The rope rescue was captured by onlookers on social media.
"The lithium ion battery adds a different degree when we talk about the fire dynamics," Leeb told reporters. "These rooms flash over in just a meer matter of seconds."
FDNY Chief Fire Marshall Daniel Flynn said that this incident is "close to our 200th fire this year where the cause of the fire is a lithium ion battery for a micro mobility device."
"This particular apartment, we believe, was repairing bikes in the building and the fire was right behind the front door. We recovered at least five bikes from this apartment."
Flynn elaborated on the nature of these fires last month in an interview with NPR last month."These bikes when they fail, they fail like a blowtorch," said Flynn. "We've seen incidents where people have described them as explosive — incidents where they actually have so much power, they're actually blowing walls down in between rooms and apartments."
The infernos can start when either a charger does not shut off once the battery is full, leading to continued heat build up in the battery; or if the flammable electrolyte in the unit leaks out from the casing and ignites, causing a devastating chain reaction.
At this rate, New York City will likely see double the amount of fires like this from 2021, when the fire department investigated 104 blazes related to lithium ion batteries for micro mobility devices. It would also be quadruple the number of such accidents from 2022, which amounted to 44.
New York sees four e-bike- or e-scooter-related fires each week on average in 2022. There were four e-bike fires in one day this past April alone.
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