11-year-old dead after fire sparked by e-bike battery

Today is a horrific reminder of the danger that lithium-ion battery fires can pose. Tragedy in the Bronx. An 11-year-old boy is dead. Four other people are now in critical condition after an e-bike sparked a fire that quickly spread through an apartment. Welcome to The Noon. Thank you for being with us. I'm Frances Wang. The mayor and the FDNY just gave an update on this horrific situation a short time ago. They say the people who lived in this apartment were trapped by the e-bike blocking the door and that this tragedy was preventable let's get right over to Arthur Chan live at the scene with more Arthur a lot of information just coming in for the noon what can you tell us we can tell you that it was a family of five Francis inside this apartment two adults and three children and it is the 11 year old of this family that has died now the others all four of them are in critical condition these are the Patterson Houses. This is 320 Morris Avenue. Let's show you a video of the fire itself. This was on the 11th floor of this 13-story NYCHA building. It started before one o'clock this morning and quickly became an all-hands fire. The fire department says their first units arrived about four minutes later. Officials say the cause is that e-bike that was charging in the kitchen area and that it was charging in what they call the egress. That is the entry, exit way of a home in this case an apartment and the problem is as we've shown you once a lithium-ion battery sparks it becomes an inferno and if it's at the doorway it traps all the residents inside which appears to be exactly what happened here now fox five got a look at the bike the charred remains of it at least that sparked this fire as well as uh getting a look at the hallway of the charred department the door completely charred now a short time ago mayor mamdani as you said along with the fire commissioner and the state attorney general held a press conference highlighting the life-threatening dangers of, in particular, uncertified lithium-ion batteries. Also saying those exact batteries have caused more than 400 fires in our city this year, killing at least six, injuring more than 70 New Yorkers. And it is a trend that is going in the wrong direction because those numbers they just gave us are a significant jump from the numbers since last year. This was an immensely challenging, fast-evolving situation. I'm heartbroken to report that an 11-year-old child lost his life. Four other New Yorkers are currently in critical condition in nearby hospitals, including two teenagers. I want to make this exceptionally clear that these lithium-ion battery fires can kill you. They can kill your family. They can kill your neighbors. and they can kill our first responders. Now, we just talked to a resident in the building. He was crying while he was telling us that it was just about a week ago that the father of this family bought the bike for his family to use. He said he knew right away by looking at it that it was not a certified bike and urged the father to keep it outside. But he said because it was not in a working condition, the father wanted to repair it and that that's why he kept it in that kitchen. He also tells us that the woman living in the apartment, two of the kids in critical right now are teenagers. Those are her kids. And that the 11-year-old son was the son of the father. Again, everybody who did survive this in critical condition in really bad shape right now. But it sort of underscores the fact that, as the mayor said, that these incidents are preventable. We'll have much more coverage on this. But for now, we're live in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx. Arthur Chien, Fox 5 News. Frances, back to you. Those details really adding to the heartbreaking situation. Arthur, thank you for the update.