Paul A Posted April 12, 2023 Share Posted April 12, 2023 (edited) https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/public-safety/2023/04/10/astoria-queens-fire-fdny-electric-bike-lithium-ion-battery-john-hodgens-laura-kavanagh-fdny April 10, 2023 A seven-year old boy and a 19-year-old girl died in a fire that erupted Monday afternoon in Astoria, the FDNY said. Fire officials say a lithium-ion battery in an electric bike sparked the blaze. There have been 59 fires caused by lithium-ion batteries this year, and five people have died, according to the FDNY. The fire occurred in the first floor of the building in the vestibule, and immediately traveled up the stairs. There were six people upstairs, including a father and five children, Hodgens said. Four people jumped out the window, but two did not, and they died. Firefighters arrived at the scene within three minutes, according to Hodgens. "If this was not an e-bike fire, most likely, we would've been able to put this fire out without incident," Hodgens said. "But the way these fires occur, it is like an explosion of fire, and these occupants have very little chance of escaping." Hodgens says that the occupants did not have a chance to escape the building because an e-bike was stored near the front door. Dan Flynn, the FDNY’s chief fire marshal, added that an after-market charger and an extension cord were used to charge the device, and the bike was likely charging when the blaze started. _____________ Some apartment buildings banning e-bikes due to ongoing lithium-ion battery fires CBS New York Apr 12, 2023 Edited April 12, 2023 by Paul A 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul A Posted April 12, 2023 Author Share Posted April 12, 2023 Siblings killed in Queens house fire CBS New York Apr 10, 2023 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GothamMike Posted April 12, 2023 Share Posted April 12, 2023 Oh jeez. This hurts. The only way PEVs survive is secure, outdoor charging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novazeus Posted April 12, 2023 Share Posted April 12, 2023 (edited) 5 hours ago, Paul A said: Siblings killed in Queens house fire CBS New York Apr 10, 2023 ya, this is terrible. i've seen this first hand. and i don't think the fire started by the three eucs, neither did the fire inpector, but omg, i know they added to the intensity of the fire. growing up on a ranch, we had partys with huge bonfires, had accidental fires, fires we started to clear brush, but i never saw a fire like these wheels caused. the heat was so intense. hopefully i'm incorrect about the topic i posted, the end is near. the govt sees this, and they will err on the side of caution and once one municipality bans big li-on battery packs, all the others will too. they all share their restrictions or codes thru municode. and if multifamily builders ban them, that will knock out alot of the market. i'll still build interconnecting non vehicle multiuse paths here, but 18 months from now, or two years from now when they start leasing in these 4 story stick built apts, they will surely be banned. if i built and held onto an apt complex here, i would ban them. course maybe a new enterprise will pop up like mini warehouses built for storing big battery pevs. but that does kill the convenience factor. like i've said, i wouldn't want to live over the top of somebody with a dozen wheels and adjusting their chargers to max voltage by removing the epoxy from the pots, and them not even home while charging. yeah, they will be banned here in my county and by all these multifamily developers. ag spanos who was one of the biggest on the planet, has already banned e-bikes from their structures. michael spanos and steve cohen their coo, are suppose to come meet me later this month, so i'll get their take on it firsthand. the deaths are terrible and sad. the destruction of the pev market will probably put all these chinese device manufacturers out of business. i prefer inline skating anyway. they ban them at my local park.no skateboards either. it sucks. i'm dropping my pev sales pitch to these developers. it was fun while it lasted. this might well be the straw to break the camel's back. Edited April 12, 2023 by novazeus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GothamMike Posted June 20, 2023 Share Posted June 20, 2023 4 dead in NYC e-bike shop. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/4-people-dead-2-critically-injured-after-fire-breaks-out-at-new-york-city-e-bike-shop/ar-AA1cMPzm My Alma Mater, Fordham University in NYC, banned PEVs months ago. This is gonna hurt everyone. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GothamMike Posted June 20, 2023 Share Posted June 20, 2023 EUC rider's visit to the Ebike shop, looks sketchy. jump to 7:16 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punxatawneyjoe Posted June 20, 2023 Share Posted June 20, 2023 1 hour ago, GothamMike said: EUC rider's visit to the Ebike shop, looks sketchy lol, great find. Anytime they are working on stuff on the sidewalk out front, you know it's sketchy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldFartRides Posted June 20, 2023 Share Posted June 20, 2023 Around midnight. Living in the back of the shop ? No way out. Sad. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Cerbera Posted June 20, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted June 20, 2023 (edited) Do the people who claim to fix these things for a living not know about battery fire safety or something ? Or is it a totally unlicensed thing where literally anyone can have go, and nobody is checking whether people are even basically competent to run these places, let alone properly qualified ? Just strikes me that a hell of a lot of these fires start in PEV repair places that look dodgy as you like from the outside, and after you've seen more than 10 conflagrations in these sorts of places you have to start wondering why authorities aren't inspecting / closing them BEFORE they are on fire ! Over here they can shut restaurants and takeaways down for relatively minor health and safety infractions, so why battery repair places aren't treated with the same, or a much higher level of oversight and checks, when the risks are so much greater seems properly mad to me. You shouldn't be able to even open one of these places without proving to authorities that you have taken all necessary fire precautions, and where the building is also residential those checks should be compulsory, unannounced and often. Edited June 20, 2023 by Cerbera 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robse Posted June 20, 2023 Share Posted June 20, 2023 it's sad that something like this happens, and it's very sad for those left behind - and it won't be the last time. But when you see pictures of the store, you can also see that the disaster was pre-programmed. Due to ignorance, or simply a lack of insight into the dangers associated with work like this? In most places in the world there is only significant control with people who work with children, food, public power supply, health care, chemicals, waste, sewer... Anyone can start a shop and offer bike repair... and they can get away with repairing, despite relative ignorance and lack of professional training. This is not a statement about the actual shop, i know nothing about it, but the pictures speak for themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GothamMike Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 NYC LIVES on take out and deliveries. Ebikes are they ony way to to get groceries and food to your apartment. I saw them arrive about 10 years ago. Where else can you get Organic Goat Cheese or Bratwurst at 3 in the morning? After a long day of dealing with snippy New Yorkers, these delivery guys drop off their bikes and head home, or they take them home and plug them in with a 50 dollar dumb charger. The exhausted batteries get warm, then hot, then explode. Evicting a tenant is nigh impossible in NYC, and everyone needs Vegan Burgers delivered, so I don't see a solution. Laws will be written, but NYC is a "live and let live" kind of place. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcatraz Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 We haven't seen pics of where the fire occurred yet. Were the batteries in a hallway? Did the people suffocate? Were they found in their beds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GothamMike Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 30 minutes ago, alcatraz said: We haven't seen pics of where the fire occurred yet. Were the batteries in a hallway? Did the people suffocate? Were they found in their beds? Lots of Apartments upstairs. Zillow showed them listed for 800,000 bucks to buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcatraz Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 (edited) 3 minutes ago, GothamMike said: Lots of Apartments upstairs. Zillow showed them listed for 800,000 bucks to buy. So the deaths occured in neighboring apartments? I thought it was people sleeping in the store. Sounds like a nasty fire then. After looking closer at the picture with the firefighters I can see damage inside the store, but surprisingly little outside. It doesn't look like the fire spread very far hmm. Edited June 21, 2023 by alcatraz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcatraz Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 Those chinese characters are traditional which means the store owners were likely from H.K. or Taiwan. If anyone's wondering.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GothamMike Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 10 hours ago, alcatraz said: So the deaths occured in neighboring apartments? I thought it was people sleeping in the store. Sounds like a nasty fire then. After looking closer at the picture with the firefighters I can see damage inside the store, but surprisingly little outside. It doesn't look like the fire spread very far hmm. It’s not the fire, it’s the toxic gases emitted. FDNY says a LI-Ion battery fire is more wires than a stick built wood fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerbera Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 (edited) 15 hours ago, Robse said: i know nothing about it, but the pictures speak for themselves. Yes they do ! With that much unorganised crap everywhere I bet they didn't even know where any particular battery pack was in the shop, let alone if it was safe or not ! I remain flabbergasted that people are allowed to open and run places like this in such a dangerously incompetent manner, right underneath where people sleep ! Of course I don't know all the facts, but I find it hard to place the blame firmly at battery technology's door when it is clearly being mismanaged by careless idiots, and there seems to be no great shortage of those trying ! I hope this, and the other horrible fires lead not to overregulation of the actual machines, but to far superior checks and measures in the shops setup to repair them. Edited June 21, 2023 by Cerbera 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edidas Posted June 24, 2023 Share Posted June 24, 2023 (edited) On 6/20/2023 at 11:02 PM, alcatraz said: Those chinese characters are traditional which means the store owners were likely from H.K. or Taiwan. If anyone's wondering.... How you be so sure? I know most stores own by Chinese from mainland China or other part of South Asian countries like Malaysia also has traditional chinese writing on their store signs because it's more "official" look plus traditional Chinese just look better than simplified chinese for store front Edited June 24, 2023 by Edidas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GothamMike Posted June 24, 2023 Share Posted June 24, 2023 1 hour ago, Edidas said: How you be so sure? I know most stores own by Chinese from mainland China or other part of South Asian countries like Malaysia also has traditional chinese writing on their store signs because it's more "official" look plus traditional Chinese just look better than simplified chinese for store front When Ebikes first began to proliferate, it was mostly Chinese Take Out delivery. Every taco joint and grocery uses them now. The fire was in Chinatown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edidas Posted June 24, 2023 Share Posted June 24, 2023 Yes im aware its a chinese owned store at chinatown obviously, however I'm questioning why he narrowed down the owner was either from h.k. or Taiwanese based on just the character on the store signs, this is just false speculation... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcatraz Posted June 24, 2023 Share Posted June 24, 2023 7 hours ago, Edidas said: Yes im aware its a chinese owned store at chinatown obviously, however I'm questioning why he narrowed down the owner was either from h.k. or Taiwanese based on just the character on the store signs, this is just false speculation... There are simplified chinese signs in chinatown. It's not impossible that they're mainland, but it's LESS likely that they are. Just saying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superox Posted June 25, 2023 Share Posted June 25, 2023 Damn, that's awful news. A small local e-scooter shop I used to visit a lot (when I rode scooters) is likewise on the first floor of a multi floor office/apartment building. For some reason the owner couldn't be bothered with keeping an appointments calendar, preferring to work FIFO. So when you brought in a scooter for servicing at high season, you had to leave it there for up to two weeks when they finally got around to it. (Quite annoying). Therefore, the fairly small shop was always FULL of scooters waiting to be serviced. One time I counted literally 100+ of them. Of course all of them had smaller or larger issues, too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freeforester Posted June 25, 2023 Share Posted June 25, 2023 Terrible. But thinking about it, with customers coming with ‘My scooter/ebike/EUC/onewheel isn’t working’ -type problems and unable to diagnose for themselves, in combination with a WIDE variety of makes and associated build ‘qualities’, seems prima facie to offer a far greater potential risk of fire hazard. Short of having purpose-built fireproof and ‘by appointment only’ storage facilities for the customers’ units, this seems to be rather more a ‘when’ not ‘if’ fire hazard risk. The testing and subsequent isolation of all incoming battery packs in order to determine their state of charge and/or risk level should form a fundamental part of a risk assessment procedure. Alas, the video and stills show perhaps all too clearly that their methods may not have been ‘methodical’. Still - terrible, for everyone, including our own community. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
destruver Posted June 25, 2023 Share Posted June 25, 2023 Super saddening, and yet another moral blow on PEVs, especially in NYC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbb Posted June 26, 2023 Share Posted June 26, 2023 https://www.westernjournal.com/highway-closed-3-alarm-blaze-erupts-lithium-battery-plant-fire-officials-can-watch-burn/ "The fire is in a building where solid lithium metal ingots are produced, according to a release from the company." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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