A blaze that erupted in an East Harlem apartment in New York City, killing a 5-year-old woman and a 36-year-old girl, was sparked by lithium ion batteries from an e-bike or scooter, fireplace marshals mentioned.
The fireplace was reported after 2:30 a.m. Wednesday within the sixth-floor apartment of the New York City Housing Authority’s Jackie Robinson Houses, in accordance with fireplace officers.
Over 78 fireplace personnel responded to the inferno and it took about an hour to get it below management, the FDNY mentioned.
The 5-year-old woman was killed within the fireplace alongside together with her father’s 36-year-old girlfriend. Three canines additionally died, NBC New York reported. The child’s father was hospitalized in vital situation.
The names of the victims weren’t launched.
The FDNY later mentioned in a tweet the reason for the“all hands fire which killed two people and left one other in serious condition … was lithium ion batteries from E-Bikes/Scooters.”
This isn’t the primary time such batteries, used to cost electrical bikes and scooters, have sparked fires.
Fire marshals additionally decided such batteries had been the reason for another fatal fire in the Bronx on Monday.
In September 2021, a 9-year-old boy was killed and greater than a dozen injured in a hearth brought on by an electrical scooter that was charging in a single day, Associated Press reported. Then-NYC Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro mentioned the town had seen at least 60 construction fires and three fatalities brought on by batteries used to cost electrical bikes and scooters up to now yr.
The FDNY is urging folks utilizing gadgets powered by lithium-ion batteries to verify the gadgets are listed by a professional testing laboratory, to observe the producer’s directions for charging and storage, to not place such gadgets below pillows, a mattress or sofa, and to maintain batteries at room temperature and away from something flammable.