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Battery found at deadly Sunset Park fire days after similar blaze in Bronx
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Nov 5, 2026 at 1:13 p.m. ET
Modified Nov 5, 2026 at 1:32 p.m. ET
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FDNY
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Nov 5, 2026 at 1:13 p.m. ET
Modified Nov 5, 2026 at 1:32 p.m. ET
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The discovery of a lithium-ion battery at the scene a house fire in Sunset Park that killed six people Thursday comes as city officials struggle to regulate the booming e-bike and e-scooter industry.
Last week, an e-bike fire at the Patterson Houses in Mott Haven killed four people, including an 11-year-old boy.
Delivery services became hugely popular in the pandemic, leading New Yorkers to buy e-bikes and e-scooters for app-based services. But the FDNY has said many of the batteries on the market do not meet safety standards and are prone to catch fire while charging.
The city has dedicated significant resources to addressing the problem, but lithium-ion fires, injuries and deaths so far this year are already much higher than last year at this time.
“ These fires are primarily due to low-cost, cheaply, poorly made, lithium-ion battery packs coming from various sources that are coming in without complying with suitable regulations,” Mike Fritz, a consultant for e-bike technology, said.
He added that the risk is substantially lower for a battery with proper safety requirements.
As firefighters continued working the scene of the fire in Sunset Park, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protections released the details of a citywide crackdown on businesses selling illegal electronic micromobility devices.
Between August and September of this year, the agency reported it inspected more than 200 shops across the city and issued more than 130 violations for failing to meet safety requirements.
Violations included selling battery-powered devices without proper safety certification standards or failure to display safety information.
“Investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire,” City Council Speaker Julie Menin said in a statement. “The presence of lithium-ion batteries at the scene is a serious concern, and more must be done to encourage and mandate safe storage practices. Enough is enough.”
If a battery is confirmed as the cause of Thursday’s fire, 10 people will have died in battery fires in just eight days. The FDNY said it investigated 292 lithium-ion battery fires in 2025, causing 51 injuries and one death. That number was down from 6 deaths in 2024, and 18 in 2023, according to the FDNY.
The department had pointed to last year’s low death toll as a sign that a combination of enforcement and a public awareness campaign about the dangers of low-quality batteries and proper storage was working.
But this year is trending back in a deadly direction with the death toll through October already surpassing all of 2025, according to FDNY stats. There have been 406 fires caused by lithium-ion batteries this year, the FDNY said, resulting in 70 injuries and 9 deaths. Through roughly the same period last year, the city had 241 fires, with 42 injuries and 1 death.
At the scene outside the home in Sunset Park, FDNY firefighters removed a charred e-scooter found inside the home.
State Senator Steve Chan — who represents the neighborhood — said he spoke to neighbors who said many people in the neighborhood use e-bikes. He said many parents use e-bikes to take their kids to school.
“They seem to think that there’s some e-bikes in the location,” Chan said. “Of course, there’s lithium batteries present in every one of these homes over here, there’s a tremendous hazard.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
Tagged
new york city
public safety
transportation
Ramsey Khalifeh
Ramsey Khalifeh is a transportation reporter on the NYC Accountability desk covering the largest transit system in the country. He was previously a general assignment reporter at Gothamist and worked on the Boston Globe's metro and copy desk. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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