Another E-bike fire

4 Die in Fire That Began at E-Bike Shop Near Chinatown By Hurubie Meko and Chelsia Rose Marcius (New York Times) -- The blaze, which left two others in critical condition, began on the first floor of a building at 80 Madison Street shortly after midnight. Four people were killed, including a 71-year-old man, after a fire tore through an e-bike service store on the first floor of a building near... [more]

4 Die in Fire That Began at E-Bike Shop Near Chinatown By Hurubie Meko and Chelsia Rose Marcius (New York Times) -- The blaze, which left two others in critical condition, began on the first floor of a building at 80 Madison Street shortly after midnight. Four people were killed, including a 71-year-old man, after a fire tore through an e-bike service store on the first floor of a building near Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood early Tuesday morning, according to the police. The fire, at a six-story mixed-use building at 80 Madison Street, started around 12:15 a.m. and spread through the store, which has residential apartments above it, according to officials. About 140 firefighters and emergency personnel responded. Six adults were taken to three area hospitals, where four of them — two women and two men — died. The other two, both women, were in critical condition, the police said. The fire left soot smeared above the broken-out windows of the building, which also houses a deli, a laundromat and a news stand. A mountain of charred e-bikes and scooters was piled up on the corner. The cause of the fire was under investigation Tuesday morning, the New York Fire Department said. The Red Cross said in a tweet that it was providing emergency shelter for eight households, comprising 23 adults and two children. As e-bikes and scooters have become ubiquitous in the city since the pandemic, where they are widely used by delivery workers and for general transport, officials have grappled with the flammability of the lithium-ion batteries that power them and the risk they pose to New Yorkers. [less]