Explosion of Lithium-Ion Battery Causes Devastating Fire and Leaves Families Homeless

A new fire caused by the explosion of a lithium-ion battery not only engulfed this business, but spread upward, leaving several families homeless, in a mixed-use building.

Mary, a neighbor of said property, tells how she lived it: “Scared and all that, but thank God it didn’t happen seriously.”

According to the city’s Fire Department, early Saturday morning, the fire started in this electric bicycle sales and repair business, located on the corner of Seventh Avenue and 55th Street in Sunset Park.

The lifeguards managed to turn it off about two hours later.

There were three injured, two firefighters and a civilian, fortunately, with minor injuries.

According to the authorities, so far in 2023, five people have died and there have been 59 fires in the city due to ion battery explosions.

We spoke with several residents of the sector, including a neighbor who had to leave her building with a baby in her arms because of this emergency.

Claudia Guzmán, neighbor of the burned building: “I am afraid because I have an 11-month-old baby and when we woke up it was because of the noise of the fire brigade.so we had to run away because the smoke expanded towards the bakerythat is, all these three buildings, people had to leave”.

For their part, Senators Charles Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand and other elected officials announced that they will continue to promote the Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act, which seeks to establish specific safety measures for users of this type of battery with the aim of controlling the products that have caused so much damage, including loss of life in the city.

One of these cases was that of Stephanie Villa, an 8-year-old girl who, in September 2022, died from a fire of this nature.

“It is not easy to see my husband for a month and a half in the hospital without being able to move, my son the same. Practically in the blink of an eye we lost everything, but what hurt us the most was losing my little girl,” says Marilú Torres, the victim’s mother.

Ligia Walpa, activist with the Labor Justice Project, Deliveristas Unidos stated:

“In this transition project there is also talk of creating electrical charges, Senator Schume. He actually has led this project of ensuring that not only are there policies to create safer batteries but also that there are electrical charges. And in New York City we’re going to do the first Deliverista Hub pilot.”