The FDNY discovered what they called a “ticking time bomb” of over a hundred lithium-ion batteries in lower Manhattan this week. This comes as the department ramped up inspections on e-bike shops in the wake of last week’s deadly fire at one such store.
The “proactive” checks on over 200 known e-bike and e-bike repair shops, along with about a dozen more new spots flagged by New Yorkers, led investigators to Canal Street, where more than 115 of the dangerous batteries were discovered in a commercial space.
“This location was truly a death trap,” FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanaugh said Thursday of the since-shuttered store, which was just blocks from the storefront where four people were killed in the June 20th fire.
“We found multiple fire hazards, damaged batteries and overloaded power strips,” Kavanaugh said at a press conference at FDNY headquarters in Brooklyn.
Fire officials described the recently-closed location as what was essentially a “swapping station,” where delivery workers would either charge or swap out their drained batteries for new ones.
Since the increased enforcement began last week, FDNY’s Fire Prevention unit conducted 38 inspections. 17 of them stemmed from new complaints and five were re-inspections.
E-bike battery fires have been a great concern in 2023.
