By Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — An exploding lithium-ion battery in an illegal e-bike repair shop in the basement of a residential home in Queens sparked a huge fire that tore through the single-family house, FDNY officials said Tuesday.
Firefighters responding to a basement blaze on Pidgeon Meadow Road near 164th Street in Fresh Meadows — across the street from Flushing Cemetery — around 7:30 p.m. found “100 lithium-ion batteries burning in the cellar,” the FDNY said on X.
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“The owner was operating an illegal lithium-ion battery repair business,” the department posted. “Multiple micro-mobility devices and lithium-ion batteries were found in various states of disassembly and disrepair.”
More than 60 firefighters and EMS personnel responded to the blaze, which took 3 1/2 hours to put out.
No injuries were reported.
Besides the batteries that caught fire, an FDNY hazmat unit recovered 600 individual battery cells found in the basement.
The FDNY Bureau of Fire Prevention slapped the owner of the one-family home with a criminal court summons for illegally storing e-mobility devices. The FDNY also hit the owner with several fire code violations.
As of Monday, the FDNY has fought 172 lithium-ion battery fires this year, five more than this time last year, officials said.
On July 4, a fire sparked by an e-bike battery killed a 76-year-old grandmother at a Queens pizzeria when she was trapped inside the restaurant bathroom by the blaze, officials said.
The grandmother, Yuet Kiu Cheung, was the first person to die from a lithium-ion battery fire in the city this year.
Last year, six people died in lithium-ion battery fires citywide, FDNY officials said. In 2023, 18 people died from e-bike or e-scooter fires.
FDNY investigators and battery experts say the exploding electrical devices are usually not certified by Underwriters Laboratories or another safety inspection company but instead bought cheap online or in area scooter stores to supplement or replace batteries included with scooters or e-bikes as original equipment.
Many delivery workers buy a supply of knockoff backup batteries so their e-bikes and scooters can stay continuously charged.
As the number of lithium-ion battery fires increased, the FDNY began a major public service announcement campaign to encourage e-bike and e-scooter owners to use only factory-installed batteries, not charge them overnight, and keep the bikes outside if possible.
The department also pushed city lawmakers to make the sale of uncertified lithium-ion batteries illegal and ramped up inspections at e-bike stores and improved its response tactics.
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