By Rocco Parascandola, Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — A firefighter was hospitalized early Thursday after a fire erupted in a Queens electric scooter store, the FDNY said.
The blaze broke out inside the store near 104th St. in Hollis at about 2:30 a.m. and quickly tore through the two-story building. Multiple e-bikes and scooters caught fire inside the shop as the fire raged. Firefighters had to douse the bikes and yank them out of the store, where they were left smoldering in melted plastic and metal heaps on the sidewalk, 1010WINS reported.
Responding firefighters put out the blaze within an hour. One firefighter was taken to Jamaica Hospital with a minor injury.
It was the second time that firefighters had responded to a blaze at The Kings Electric Scooters shop on Jamaica Ave. as the FDNY continued to tamp down on lithium-ion battery fires throughout the five boroughs.
On March 13, 2023, an e-bike battery being repaired at the store exploded and caught fire, FDNY officials said. The blaze quickly spread to other e-bikes in the shop, FDNY officials said. Two people were treated for minor injuries.
In Thursday’s blaze, an FDNY hazmat team was called in to package and safely store the lithium-ion batteries that caught fire as well as the ones that didn’t. Batteries that catch fire can reignite unless they’re safely packaged, FDNY officials said.
FDNY fire marshals were trying to determine what sparked the early morning fire. While damaged or poorly built e-bike batteries have been known to explode and start fires, it wasn’t immediately clear if the batteries were the direct cause of Thursday’s blaze.
As of July 15, lithium-ion batteries have sparked 121 fires in the city resulting in 52 injuries and one death. The number was greatly reduced from last year when 124 fires caused by lithium-ion batteries led to 85 injuries and 13 deaths by mid-July, FDNY officials said.
In March, a raging Bronx fire that left 10 people hurt and displaced 26 residents was sparked by a lithium-ion battery-powered e-bike stored under the stairs, said FDNY officials. In February, a battery sparked a blaze in Harlem that killed a Columbia Journalism School graduate and injured 17 others.
Factory-installed scooter batteries seem safe and adhere to industry standards, safety experts say. The batteries that tend to combust are after-market items e-bike users buy online or in scooter stores as supplements or replacements for the battery that came with the device, said FDNY officials.
Many deliveristas buy knockoff backup batteries so their rides can stay continuously charged.
The Fire Department recommends that scooter owners never charge batteries unattended and that they should be charged outdoors.
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