A fire at a Bronx apartment building killed a 10-year-old boy on Wednesday, and the New York City Fire Department announced the deaths of three more victims on Friday.
A fire caused by an e-bike lithium-ion battery broke out at Patterson Houses in the borough’s Motthaven area at around 1am on Wednesday. Emergency crews responded to the 11th floor where the fire broke out.
Emergency crews arrived on the scene in less than four minutes and rescued five people from the scene: a 10-year-old boy, his parents and his two teenage brothers.
Despite efforts to save his life, the youngest boy died at the scene, officials said. His siblings and parents were taken to a nearby hospital. On Friday, the FDNY confirmed the deaths of an 11-year-old boy, a 16-year-old boy and a 33-year-old woman. The fire department said one male victim remains hospitalized in critical condition.
A photo of the boy who died Wednesday hangs on a memorial in front of the Bronx building.
“All I can say is, this kid is a happy boy. Everyone in the building loves him,” neighbor Tasha Aiken said.
Investigators later said a lithium-ion battery started the fire, which was brought under control after firefighters worked for nearly an hour. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries while fighting the blaze, according to the FDNY.
The mayor, fire commissioner and NYCHA chief highlighted the dangers of charging e-bikes indoors, as well as existing rules for storing e-bikes in city public housing.
“We know that lithium-ion battery fires can start extremely quickly and spread extremely quickly,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at an afternoon press conference.
“So far this year, we have had 401 fires caused by lithium-ion batteries, resulting in 74 injuries and six deaths. By comparison, last year there were 292 fires, 51 injuries, and only one fatality,” said FDNY Chief Lillian Bonsignore.
She pointed out that the family’s electric bicycle, said to be used for work, was found in the kitchen doorway — “a spot in the kitchen that residents could not safely leave,” Bonsignore said.
Another person who lives in the building said the bikes used to be kept in the hallways but some were stolen so they started putting them in the apartments.
Mamdani said he would consider new options for housing bikes in public housing, such as storing them in rooms surrounded by cinder blocks.