4 killed in fire sparked by lithium ion battery at NYC e-bike shop

Four Chinatown [in New York City] residents died early Tuesday after a raging e-bike fire tore through a repair shop previously flagged for unsafe conditions, with scores of terrified survivors fleeing into the darkness outside their homes.

Two senior citizen victims were clinging to life in critical condition after the blaze erupted around 12:15 am [0415 GMT] inside the HQ E-Bike Repair, a shop on the ground floor of the six-story residence on Madison St near Catherine St, the FDNY [New York City Fire Department] said.

It was the second fire blamed on a battery at the location in about nine months, officials and a witness said.

The inferno was sparked by a lithium ion battery, FDNY fire marshals quickly determined, with the same shop cited twice before for violations.

Fire and smoke soon spread to the apartments above, with a pile of charred e-bikes left on the blackened sidewalk outside the business in the latest in dozens of deadly citywide incidents involving the batteries.

"This exact scenario, where there is an e-bike on the first floor and residents above, is extremely deadly," FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said at a news conference outside the gutted shop. "The sheer volume of fire is extremely dangerous. It can make it nearly impossible to get out in time."

Fires caused by e-bike batteries have become a crisis in the city, with 13 deaths from 108 incidents this year, according to Kavanagh.

The Chinatown bike shop was hit two times since 2021 for violations including its wiring and the number of batteries on the premises. The scofflaw owner was fined $1,600 after receiving a summons last year as the city continues its crackdown on the dangerous two-wheelers, officials said.

"We arrived in just about four minutes," said FDNY Deputy Assistant Chief John Sarrocco. "We found heavy fire in an e-bike store... Units made an interior attack and put that fire out."

Two women and two men were killed, with an 80-year-old man and a 65-year-old woman hospitalized in critical condition Tuesday, authorities said. A seventh victim suffered minor injuries.

A 71-year-old man and a 62-year-old woman perished in the blaze, while the two other victims remained unidentified, according to officials. The victims were taken to three local hospitals, police said.

While authorities did not provide names for the dead, the pastor of a local Chinese church said the elderly male victim's son was an overseas Christian missionary now on his way home.

The dead man's wife escaped the fire with her life but was in critical condition, said the pastor of the Chinese Conservative Baptist Church.

"Very sad," said the pastor. "(The shop owner) didn't care about the people living there. ... They probably think they can foresee what is going to happen. They are taking a chance on people's lives, causing a lot of harm."

In September, firefighters responded to a call about a blaze at the same location. They were able to put out a smoking battery by putting it in water, the FDNY said. No injuries were reported.

The shop owner crammed bikes in a large sidewalk shed and his own store, according to an employee at a deli next door.

"The first fire was in the daytime and the owner was there. He made it out like it was normal, like it was nothing big, like it was okay," said Theo Alsaiti, who works at Catherine Deli & Bagels.

"I thought he knew that it would be a problem, to have that many bikes piled up," Alsaiti added. "He should be held accountable."

Victims from the latest fire were largely elderly residents, with some of the survivors receiving housing from the Red Cross in the fire's aftermath, Councilman Christopher Marte told the Daily News.

One firefighter suffered minor injuries.

Scores of residents above the repair shop escaped or were rescued in the chaotic scene after the blaze erupted, with a pile of smoldering e-bikes left in the street behind police tape.

Last month, a 94-year-old woman and her son died from injuries suffered in a fast-moving e-bike fire inside the family's Washington Heights apartment.