E-Bike Battery Sparks 5-Alarm Fire In NYC Supermarket; 7 Injured

The battery of an e-bike has sparked a massive five-alarm fire in a supermarket in New York City, injuring at least seven people.

The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) responded to the supermarket fire on the Grand Concourse in the West Bronx section at around 10:41 a.m. Sunday. The flames filled the sky with plumes of thick smoke, which were visible from miles away, the New York Post reported.

More than 200 firefighters from more than 50 units were present at the scene, Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said, according to the outlet.

Five firefighters, one member of the EMS and one civilian suffered minor injuries in the fire incident. No fatalities were reported as of Sunday evening.

Mayor Eric Adams and top FDNY officials confirmed that the raging fire originated from a lithium-ion battery that powered a scooter.

The incident was caught on video, which FDNY shared on Twitter. The clip shows a small explosion taking place in the back room of the store, resulting in flames.

"The video is chilling. When you saw how fast this fire started and spread, it just really gives you a point of pause," Mayor Adams said during a press conference, as per NBC New York.

Authorities launched an investigation into the charred remains of the e-scooter to review the exact cause behind the explosion that started the fire.

"This charred scooter is only a symbol of what is happening behind and what has continued to take place since early this morning. We are still fighting a fire because of the type of device that the fire started from," Adams added.

Chief John Hodgens revealed the amount of fire produced by a single battery was strong enough that firefighters were unable to get ahead of it, according to Gothamist.

"It's really something that we haven't seen before in terms of a small fire turning into something like this in a matter of minutes," Hodgens said.

Lithium-ion batteries, used for powering electric bicycles and scooters, had already resulted in 22 fires and caused two deaths and 36 injuries in New York City this year, AP News reported last month. In 2022, lithium-ion batteries caused 216 fires in the city.

"These are incredibly dangerous devices, and we must make sure that members of the community are handling them properly and using them safely," Kavanaugh said at a briefing on public safety, according to NBC New York.

"We really want to emphasize to the public how much damage can be done by a single e-bike that isn't a compliant, a single e-bike that might not be certified, might be using an illegal battery. This bike could be in your home," Kavanaugh added. "And if it can do this amount of damage to a store of this size, just think of the danger that to yourself, to your family, to your building."

The New York City Council passed a slate of bills on March 2 to crack down on lithium-ion batteries. The efforts included measures to bar e-bikes that lacked certified electrical systems from being sold or leased in the city.