FDNY blames e-bike battery for latest fire that injures 4 people in Manhattan

Four people were hospitalized, three with serious injuries, and this is the latest fire in the city caused by e-bike batteries, according to the FDNY.

The massive blaze started around 1:30 a.m. Sunday on Sherman Avenue in Inwood, according to fire officials. Rescuers took about an hour to deal with the fire on the fifth floor.

Four people injured in the morning fire were taken to a Harlem hospital, where they were treated. Additional details, including their age, were not immediately released.

Fire investigators are blaming the blaze on the e-bike battery, making it the third to be caused by the devices since the start of the year. As a result of the incidents, dozens of people were injured, one person died.

Just last week, a lithium-ion battery from an e-bike started a devastating kindergarten fire in Queens that left more than a dozen children injured, one critically.

In recent years, lithium-ion batteries have accounted for a growing proportion of fires in New York and elsewhere. They are highly flammable, so airlines do not allow them to be carried in checked baggage, and are also very sensitive to heat. Packaging also tends to wear out more quickly, which increases the risk of fire and possibly widespread damage.

Li-ion batteries were responsible for about 200 fires and six deaths in New York City last year, according to a New York Times report.