A raging Chinatown fire inside an e-bike repair shop left four people dead early Tuesday, with scores of residents frantically fleeing the burning six-story apartment building in the darkness, authorities said.
Two of the survivors were clinging to life after the the blaze broke out about 12:15 a.m. in HQ E-Bike Repair, a shop on the ground floor of the residence on Madison St. near Catherine St., the FDNY said.
The fire was sparked by a lithium ion battery, FDNY fire marshals quickly determined.
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 of multiple deadly incidents involving the batteries across the city.
“This exact scenario is incredibly deadly,” said FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh at a news conference outside the shop. “The sheer volume of fire … can make it nearly impossible to get out on time.”
Fires caused by e-bike batteries have become a crisis in the city, with 13 deaths from 108 incidents this year, said Kavanagh. The bike shop in question was twice cited since 2021 for violations including its wiring and the number of batteries on the premises.
The owner was fined $1,600 after receiving a summons last year.
“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 and two women were hospitalized in critical condition Tuesday, authorities said. A seventh victim suffered minor injuries. All the victims are believed to be older adults.
“I was sleeping in my house and I wake up and smell smoke,” said Matthew Nicholas, 40, who lives across the street. “There would be a lot of bikes and stuff out on the streets. It was like a service station as they waited for a guy to switch out parts and batteries.”
Neighbor Emiliano Valazquez, 68, said the e-bike business was always busy and filled with the dangerous bikes.
“Packed wall to wall,” he said. “All over the place. It wasn’t one of those places where you would want to take your bike and get it fixed, let me say it that way.”
One firefighter suffered minor injuries.
Scores of residents above the repair shop escaped or were rescued in the chaotic scene after the blaze erupted.
A pile of smoldering e-bikes lay in the street behind police tape as authorities investigated the blaze.
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.
The deaths of Bertha Domenech Santiago and her son, Luis, marked the sixth and seventh fatalities caused by the ignition of lithium-ion batteries — used for electric bikes, scooters and hoverboards — surpassing the number of fire deaths from 2022, according to the FDNY.