11-year-old boy killed, 4 critically injured in Bronx e-bike battery fire
An 11-year-old boy was killed and four others were critically injured after an e-bike battery caught fire in an apartment building in the Bronx, according to New York City officials.
The fire was reported at about 12:50 a.m. Wednesday in an 11th-floor apartment at 320 Morris Avenue, part of the Patterson Houses complex in Mott Haven, according to the FDNY. The building is 13 stories tall.
Firefighters arrived within four minutes and brought the fire under control by 2 a.m., Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at a briefing. A total of 38 units, with 120 fire and emergency medical personnel, responded to the scene.
Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said the fire started in the kitchen and spread quickly. An e-bike had been placed near the exit door in a location that made it impossible for the occupants to escape safely.
Firefighters had to force the apartment door open and encountered heavy fire inside, Fire Department Chief John Esposito said. They found one victim behind the door and removed the person, who was taken to a hospital.
Other firefighters crawled past the uncontrolled flames to search the rest of the apartment.
“Several of our firefighters put themselves at great personal risk to finish those searches and remove the rest of the victims from that apartment before we were able to put water on the fire and control that fire,” Esposito said.
A 11-year-old boy died, while two teenagers and two adults are in critical condition at nearby hospitals.
Bonsignore said lithium-ion batteries have caused 401 fires in New York City so far this year, resulting in 74 injuries and six deaths. That compares with 292 fires, 51 injuries and one death last year.
“These tragedies are preventable. I want to urge New Yorkers to please heed our calls and to store these devices outside,” Mamdani said.
