Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Bronx community hosts vigil for boy killed in e-bike fire
By
Carol Chen
Published Oct 29, 2026 at 9:22 p.m. ET
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Carol Chen / Gothamist
By
Carol Chen
Published Oct 29, 2026 at 9:22 p.m. ET
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Prayer candles, alongside red and blue balloons, lined the exterior of a Bronx building Thursday where neighbors and friends gathered to mourn a young boy who died in a fire caused by an e-bike battery.
Zion Maine, whom authorities say is 10- or 11-years-old, died Wednesday after a lithium-ion battery ignited, killing him and injuring four members of his family.
Friends and neighbors gathered around the entrance to the building, hugging, crying and bringing candles.
“This little boy was loved in the community,” said Tayesha Aiken, 41, who has lived in the Patterson Houses, a public housing complex in Mott Haven, for a decade.
Even people who didn’t know him are “coming out and showing love for him and his family,” she said.
Fire officials said the battery on an e-bike ignited just before 1 a.m. Wednesday in the kitchen of the family’s 11th-floor apartment. The bike was stored near the front door and blocked the family’s exit from the apartment.
Maine died at a nearby hospital after being rescued, city officials said. Four others remain in critical condition, according to family members: his father, Courtney Maine, 37, Maine’s partner Syida Adams, and two teenage brothers.
Aiken said she watched firefighters carry the children out of the building last night.
“Praying and crying is all I’ve been doing,” she said. “I think that’s all we really can do at this point is pray.”
Carmen Rodríguez, 50, has lived in the apartment next door for 23 years. She was awake when the fire broke out and went downstairs when she heard the commotion. When she headed back upstairs around 2 a.m., responders were carrying Maine past her.
“It was very sad news,” she said in Spanish.
Rodríguez said she did not know the family, but had heard how loved they were in the building.
Sheila Patterson, 63, Adams’ mother, said she was watching TV in her room when details emerged on the news about her daughter’s building, then information about the fire breaking out on the 11th floor.
“I said, ‘Oh my God, that’s Syida’s floor,’” Patterson said. “Not thinking that it was her apartment, because there’s a couple of apartments on the 11th floor.”
Pattern said she has spent her last two days moving between the building and the hospital. “I’m not good,” she said. “ I don't know what's the next things [that are] gonna happen.”
She described her daughter and grandson as smart and strong. “They’re fighting for their lives now,” she said.
There were 401 lithium-ion battery fires in the city this year, up from 292 last year, according to the FDNY. The New York City Housing Authority allows tenants to charge one e-bike inside an apartment, away from exits, while an adult is present and awake.
Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson said the borough has no regulated site where riders can charge or store e-bike batteries. The city Department of Transportation started a charging pilot elsewhere, and Gibson said she will push for an expansion.
“As a city and as an administration, we have to do more,” Gibson said.
At the vigil, the mood was somber, but communal.
“Nobody wanted this to happen, you know?” Aiken said. “Not the father, not the mother, no one.”
Instead of assigning blame, residents say they remain focused on supporting each other.
“We’re talking, we’re hugging each other,” Aiken said. “Everybody’s making sure each other is good.”
Tagged
bronx
public safety
Carol Chen
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
8 people charged in $7M SNAP benefit fraud scheme
The scam impacted thousands of people, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
By
Giulia Heyward
Published Oct 29, 2026 at 8:30 p.m. ET
California man was shot by a NJ detective in Moonachie, officials say
Roberto Castro-Quinonez of Bakersfield, California was shot by police in Bergen County on Wednesday, according to the New Jersey attorney general's office.
By
Kaya Laterman
News
California man was shot by a NJ detective in Moonachie, officials say
Roberto Castro-Quinonez of Bakersfield, California was shot by police in Bergen County on Wednesday, according to the New Jersey attorney general's office.
By
Kaya Laterman
The NYPD is confiscating e-bikes along a clogged East Village street
By
Willow Higgins
New Yorkers enrolled in SNAP will get more money for fresh produce next year
By
Giulia Heyward
'You can't even look out the window': Asbestos dust coats Brooklyn NYCHA building walls
By
Catalina Gonella
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .