10-year-old boy dead, 4 others critical after battery sets NYC apartment ablaze: FDNY

An 10-year-old boy was killed and four other people were critically hurt after e-bike lithium ion batteries erupted and started a fire that torched part of a Bronx apartment building.

Emergency crews responded to the Patterson Houses shortly before 1 a.m. Wednesday in the Mott Haven neighborhood for reports of a fire at the Morris Avenue residential community. A fire had started on the 11th floor of the building.

First responders arrived in less than four minutes and pulled five people from the location: a 10-year-old boy, his parents, and his two teenage brothers.

Despite efforts to keep him alive, the youngest boy died at the scene, officials said. His siblings and parents were taken to nearby hospitals and were in critical condition as of Wednesday evening.

A photo of the boy who died hung over a memorial in front of the Bronx building.

“All I can say is that the little kid was a happy boy. Everybody in the building loved him,” said Taisha Aiken, a neighbor.

Investigators later said a lithium-ion battery sparked the flames, which were under control after nearly an hour of work by firefighters.

The Mayor, Fire Commissioner and the head of NYCHA stressing the dangers of charging e-bikes indoors, and the current rules for storing e-bikes in city public housing.

“We know that lithium ion battery fires can start quickly and spread incredibly rapidly,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at a news briefing in the afternoon.

“So far this year, we’ve seen 401 fires caused by lithium ion batteries, 74 injuries and six deaths. That’s compared to 292 fires, 51 injuries and just one death last year,” said FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore.

She noted that the family’s e-bike, which was said to have been used for work, was found by the door in the kitchen — “in a spot in the kitchen that made it impossible for the residents to leave safely,” Bonsignore said.

Another person who lived in the building said the bike used to be kept in the hallway, but some had gotten stolen, so they started keeping it in the apartment.

Mamdani said he would consider new options for bikes in public housing, like the idea of storing them in rooms surrounded by cinderblock.