fire

7-Year-Old and Teen Die in Astoria Fire, Others Jump Out 2nd Story Window

Fire officials say the house fire was sparked by an e-bike battery -- the fifth time a battery-fueled fire has killed New Yorkers this year

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What to Know

  • A fire sparked in the first-floor vestibule of a Queens home climbed to the residence's second floor where a family lived
  • A father and several children managed to escape out of the second-story window, with help from neighbors, but two did not make it out
  • Fire officials are blaming the blaze on a bad e-bike battery, the cause now of five deadly fires in the city this year

A family is grieving the loss of a 7-year-old boy and a teenager who were killed in a fire at a home in Queens that was sparked by an e-bike's lithium ion battery, investigators said.

The call about the fire at the home on 46th Street in Astoria, with reports of people trapped, came in shortly after 2 p.m. The flames were under control within about an hour, but devastation had already been wrought.

Officials said that the child and a 19-year-old female did not survive, and at least one additional patient was transported via stretcher away from the home to the hospital. A father and six kids lived in the second-story unit above an entry vestibule where investigators said a lithium ion battery caught fire.

"If this was not an e-bike fire, most likely we would've been able to put this fire out without incident. But the way these fires occur, it's like and explosion of fire, and these occupants have very little chance of escaping," said FDNY Chief of Department John Hodgens, who said the fire traveled from the front of the apartment all the way to the back.

It's believed the father and four of his kids managed to escape, but the two others did not make it out. A neighbor heard screams and ran to help people jumping from a second-story window.

"I heard someone screaming 'My house! My house! Help! Help!' I ran outside, two of my neighbors were already outside they said 'There's two kids and a man in the back, we got to get them out.' We caught them as they jumped out the house."

Hodgens said that the fire started in a first-floor vestibule and quickly spread to the second-floor apartment. A window on that floor of the two-story building appeared totally blown out by fire, a charred streak stretching from the cracked frame to the roof, which also appeared to have sustained heavy fire damage.

A slew of firefighters and fire engines blocked off the street in front. More than 100 fire personnel responded.

"We know people have e-bikes and similar micro-mobility devices, and we are imploring users to follow all manufacturer safety guidelines and recommendations," FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanaugh said in a statement.

It's the second high-impact fire in Astoria in a matter of weeks. Late last month, five firefighters and a civilian were hurt when a warehouse blaze erupted on 31st Street, near 34th and 35th avenues.

The chief fire marshal said that an after-market lithium ion battery charger may be to blame for the fire.

The FDNY said that the fire was the 59th sparked by a lithium ion battery this year. Five people have died in those fires, one shy of the six lives lost to battery fires in 2022.

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