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18 children injured in lithium-ion battery fire in Queens: FDNY
By
Gwynne Hogan
Published Jan 26, 2023
Modified Jan 26, 2023
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By
Gwynne Hogan
Published Jan 26, 2023
Modified Jan 26, 2023
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Eighteen children were injured, one critically, in a fire sparked by a lithium-ion battery in Queens on Wednesday, fire officials said.
The basement of the house was serving as an unpermitted daycare facility, according to the city’s buildings department.
Shortly after 2 p.m., firefighters battled a large blaze at 147-07 72nd Drive and rescued 18 children from inside, according to Chief of Operations John Esposito.
Seventeen children were treated at the scene and didn’t need hospital care, but one child, whose age wasn’t released, was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, officials said.
Building inspectors determined two commercial businesses were operating in the basement: a daycare and a dental lab. Neither was an approved use of that space, according to Ryan Degan, a spokesperson for the buildings department.
After the fire, the buildings department issued the owner violations for unpermitted construction, and inappropriate use of the cellar, Degan said.
Fire marshals later determined a lithium ion battery used in an e-bike or a scooter started the blaze, according to FDNY spokesperson Frank Dwyer.
Video of the aftermath of the chaotic scene broadcast by NBC New York showed adults comforting young children.
Neither the city’s health department nor the state’s Office of Children and Family Services, which both regulate daycares, had any record of the location in their public databases.
Patrick Gallahue, a health department spokesperson, said his office was investigating the incident.
Solomon Syed, a spokesperson for the New York State Office of Children and Family Services said the daycare wasn’t registered with their office.
“The (OCFS) is devastated to learn of the injuries suffered by these children,” Syed wrote. “The agency is conducting a thorough review to determine if it was, in fact, operating illegally.”
Syed went on to clarify that all childcare facilities need a license with the state if a program or caretaker is caring for more than two children not related to them for three or more hours a day.
The building’s owner, Abner Arshadnia, is described as the head of Yeshiva Ohel Simcha on LinkedIn, a school with a location around the corner from the scene of the fire. Phone calls and emails to Arshadnia and the yeshiva weren’t returned right away.
Neighbors had expressed concerns about the house before.
“There is a one-family residential property that was illegally converted into a two-family home,” a 311 caller complained in 2018. “This has caused a lot of traffic from strange people.”
After that complaint, inspectors from the buildings department visited the house twice and knocked on the door but no one answered and they never inspected the building, records show.
After the fire, building inspectors issued a full vacate order on the house, due to smoke and water damage and a hole in the roof.
Lithium-ion batteries have been blamed for more than 13 fires across the city so far this year, according to the FDNY. Last year, the batteries caused 216 fires, 147 injuries and six deaths, FDNY officials said, though faulty electrical wiring is consistently blamed for more fires and injuries than batteries.
This story has been updated to include comment from New York state's Office of Children and Family Services.
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Gwynne Hogan
Gwynne Hogan is a former Gothamist reporter.
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