An e-bike battery was the cause of a deadly apartment building fire in Harlem, killing Fazil Khan, a 27-year-old graduate of Columbia Journalism School, and injuring 17 others. The fire occurred on Friday afternoon, February 23, on the third floor of a six-story, 31-unit building at 2 St. Nicholas Place in Hamilton Heights.
Raging flames tore through the building, leaving some residents trapped in their apartments, clinging to windows as they tried to escape, according to the FDNY. Firefighters fighting the blaze found three tenants unconscious on the upper floors, including Mr. Khan, who died at the hospital after he was rescued from the building.
Residents said that e-bikes were an everyday sight in the building owned by several deliveristas. Resident Dorothy Montague, who lived in the building for over 50 years, told news reporters that she started worrying when she noticed new tenants parking their e-bikes outside and charging their lithium batteries indoors.
“I did see the elongated battery in their hands, and I asked one young man, ‘please be careful, please be careful,’ and I spoke to management,” she told News 4.
When the fire broke out at 2:15 pm, the resident of the unit believed to be the source of the fire, left the door open as they fled. According to Fire Department sources, this allowed the fire to spread quickly into the building’s third-floor hallway, blocking the stairs for tenants on the upper floors.
A total of 106 firefighters and EMS workers responded to the blaze, which took three hours to extinguish.
Mr. Khan, who was originally from New Delhi, India, worked for the Hechinger Report, a website focused on education issues. The Hechinger Report said he was “a great colleague and wonderful person, and our hearts go out to his family.”
“Five tenants remained in critical condition on Saturday,” according to officials.
The Red Cross is putting up displaced residents from the fire in a nearby public school.
Why Are Lithium-ion Batteries Dangerous?
This recent lithium-ion battery fire is just one of several that have afflicted the city. Eighteen people died in e-bike battery fires in 2023.
The New York Fire Department advises that heat and explosions from rechargeable lithium-ion batteries can produce severe, rapidly spreading fires that are difficult to extinguish with water. According to the agency, traditional household fire extinguishers are similarly ineffective against
lithium-ion battery fires.
Many electric bikes and scooters marketed in the United States in recent years may include lithium-ion batteries that consumer safety laboratories have not approved. According to fire officials, new laws and regulations on e-bike batteries are required.
