Apartment Fires Attorney in New York, New York
How have lithium batteries caused apartment fires in New York City?
How have lithium batteries caused apartment fires in New York City?
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in order to understand why lithium
batteries have become such a problem not
only in New York City but throughout the
country and actually the world you have
to go back to basically the invention of
the ebike so when the ebike got invented
and it became a mode of transportation
to get around the city deliverymen
Messengers and people people in general
bought ebikes to utilize as
transportation and for work so in New
York City especially there’s been a
proliferation of ebikes everybody has an
ebike there are ebike stores there are
places you can buy it there are
marketplaces um and the ebikes are all
powered by lithium batteries and the
problem with the lithium batteries and
the manufacturers of the bike a as a
component the lithium batteries are that
the battery that comes with the bike
when it’s sold is not the only battery
that can be used on the bike it’s like
if you have an Ever ready battery and a
Duracell battery and your appliance
comes or your device comes with an Ever
ready battery and then you change it for
a Duracell battery while that works in
principle for small devices on ebikes it
doesn’t necessarily work
for instance these ebikes if they come
with a specific battery and a specific
charger what happens is people generally
get more than one charger or more than
one bike and they are interchangeable in
the charging mechanism so that an ebike
battery that let’s say for instance is
able to make a bike go 20 miles an hour
you’re able to buy a b battery that’s
supercharged and can go 35 miles an hour
and what people generally do because
most people don’t read or necessarily
understand about charging is they’ll
take the battery that goes 40 miles an
hour and use it with a charger that only
is supposed to be used for a battery
that’s 20 miles an hour so what happens
is the interplay doesn’t always work
mean meaning that the charge is
different and most if not all of these
batteries are manufactured in China and
in China they have much lesser standards
than we do when it comes to electrical
components they shouldn’t even be
allowed here but because of Amazon and
things that you can buy over the
Internet they get here so what happens
with these batteries is there’s a charge
the charge is an improper charge to the
battery the cells which make up the
battery they are little cells in each
battery if you actually open one up you
could actually see the cells so what
happens because the the charge and the
cell are not compatible either they
overheat or they explode or spark occurs
and once that ignites it ignites the
battery in total because you have to
remember batter is an enclosed object
right so you have this battery that’s on
the bike it’s enclosed and now you have
a chemical and electrical reaction
within the bike and what happens when it
all explode the whole thing explodes and
it it’s an explosion I mean it’s like
dynamite almost and it’s a massive
explosion and once the explosion curs
then it starts a fire on whatever there
are combustible substances within an
apartment or a small area and it
explodes large it doesn’t just stay in
one spot just think of an explosion from
it how does it go it goes out it goes in
all directions and everything cat fire
and so when you think about an apartment
where there may be a wall that’s not a
great wall or wall that was put up by
the Ted or a sheet that separates maybe
a bedroom from a from the the living
room and that catch fire what happens
are is that the means of egress the
means of getting out of the apartment
get compromised in that they can’t make
it to the apartment door because of the
explosion because of the fire people
become trapped people either have to try
to get out to a fire escape if they can
make it to the fire escape or they have
to chunk out the window I’ve had clients
who have had to jump out the window we
actually had and there’s actually a
video of it two clients who could not
get through the door they had to shimmy
down a drain pipe from the fifth floor
and there’s video of these two young
kids shimmying down the drain pipe in
order to escape because they couldn’t
get through the door so these lithium
batteries have become so
dangerous and mainly It’s a combination
of the cells which are not well
manufactured
as well as with the Chargers which are
not compatible necessarily with the cell
when I say not compatible I mean not
compatible with the cells within the
battery the plug is compatible in other
words if think about a Samsung phone and
an Apple phone Samsung phones and Apple
phones you generally can’t get take a
Samsung phone with an Apple charger but
with these lithium batteries you can
take a charger ger that’s meant for one
type of battery and you could charge it
with a different type of battery because
the plugs are compatible but the battery
cells themselves are not compatible and
it just creates this massive explosion I
mean in New York City alone I think in
2023 there were over 25 deaths from
lithium battery fires so the problem
becomes well where should you store
these bikes I mean every major city has
lithium battery bikes all over the
place so for a long time people were
told to store their bikes outside or
they weren’t told anything what happened
was there was a period of time where
certain housing management companies
they want the bikes outside so they cut
either locks or the chains and the
people’s bikes were getting removed and
or stolen so in order to prevent that
they took them up into the apartment
which is about the worst place that you
can store that’s like absolutely the
worst place that you can store the bike
so these people they’re afraid the
bike’s going to be stolen they take the
bike into their apartment they put
charges in the wrong charger or they buy
another charger because they want to
have two batteries being charged at the
same
time What Happens they end up with a
fire and an explosion and it’s listen
I’ve been to probably 15 to 20 fire
explosion sites in an apartment building
at Ed the apartments are literally
destroyed I I mean everybody goes home
and they have a nice house or nice
apartment everything’s in order you go
to a place where there’s been an
explosion or fire and everything is
decimated so these batteries have become
so dangerous that there needs to be a
better policy
Endor some regulations put in effect by
either Congress or local government to
either make the batteries from China
better or to make it so that the
batteries and the charges are you can’t
charge another battery to a different
charger but only the one that comes with
the bike and the unfortunate part is
that if you go on the internet like
Amazon there are batteries for sale
there are Chargers for sale and people
swap them if you’ve ever passed an ebike
store there must be 15 to 20 people
outside having discussions it’s like
almost like a motorcycle rally they have
discussions about the bikes and the
batteries and where how fast this one
goes how fast that one goes can I borrow
yours can I borrow that battery again
the worst thing that they can do and
while the public and the government
especially New York City has done
I’m going to say an adequate job they
need to do more to educate the public
not to take these batteries and these
bikes and the batteries into their
Apartments so worst place possible to
store it’s a ticking tiop they need to
be educated they need to be told that
you should only use the charger that
comes with that battery and don’t store
it in your
apartment I mean we represent it must be
10 cases that we have involving lithium
battery bike
fires it’s it’s just a real tragedy it’s
it’s a horrible situation we have cases
involving people who die and we have
cases involving people that are
seriously seriously burned and there’s
nothing like burn injuries it’s a
horrible you scarred it’s very painful
so I implore people for their own safety
and for the safety of their families to
please be extra careful when they have
these lithium bikes I know a lot of
people have to do it because that’s
their livelihood you know a lot of the
unfortunately a lot of the immigrants
who have come in from El Salvador and
elsewhere they need a job so they get
jobs being either with Uber delivery
people and they use the bikes to get
around for their livelihood they need to
stor them outside take the battery in by
itself and only use that charger with
that battery it’s a matter of their own
safety plus Public
Safety
New York, NY personal injury attorney Robert Vilensky talks about how lithium batteries cause apartment fires in New York City. He states that to understand why lithium batteries have become a significant problem—not only in New York City but across the country and globally—one must look back to the invention of the e-bike. When e-bikes emerged as a mode of transportation, delivery workers, messengers, and the general public adopted them for both commuting and work. In New York City, in particular, e-bikes have proliferated: stores and marketplaces selling them are widespread, and nearly everyone has one. All of these e-bikes are powered by lithium batteries, which present considerable risks.
The issue arises because the battery included with an e-bike at the time of sale is not the only battery that can be used. While substituting batteries works for small devices, it does not necessarily work safely for e-bikes. Many users acquire additional chargers or batteries, and these components are often interchangeable in appearance, but not in functionality. For example, a battery designed to allow a bike to travel at 20 miles per hour may be replaced with a “supercharged” battery capable of 35 miles per hour. If this higher-powered battery is used with a charger intended for the lower-powered battery, the mismatch can result in overheating, sparking, or even explosions.
Most lithium batteries in e-bikes are manufactured in China, where standards for electrical components are generally lower than in the United States. As a result, many of these batteries would not meet domestic safety requirements. When improperly charged, the small cells inside each battery may overheat or ignite. Since the battery is an enclosed object, a chemical and electrical reaction can trigger a massive explosion. Once the battery explodes, it can ignite nearby combustible materials, causing fires that spread rapidly through apartments or other confined spaces.
In apartment settings, these fires are particularly hazardous because they can block exits. Residents may be forced to escape through fire escapes or even windows. There have been documented cases where individuals had to shimmy down drainpipes from the fifth floor because they could not reach the door.
The danger of lithium batteries stems from both the manufacturing quality of the cells and the incompatibility between certain batteries and chargers. While the plugs may be compatible, the internal battery cells are often not, creating a high risk of fire or explosion. In New York City alone, there were more than 25 deaths from lithium battery fires in 2023.
Storage practices further compound the risk. Many residents bring e-bikes into their apartments to prevent theft, often charging multiple batteries simultaneously with the wrong chargers. This practice significantly increases the likelihood of fires and explosions. Investigations of 15 to 20 apartment fire sites have shown extensive destruction, emphasizing the urgent need for better policies and regulations.
Regulatory measures could include improving the quality of imported batteries or enforcing compatibility rules so that only the original charger is used with its corresponding battery. However, the ease of purchasing batteries and chargers online has made enforcement difficult. E-bike owners frequently share and swap batteries, often unaware of the dangers involved.
Public education is critical. Residents must be instructed to store batteries outside, charge them only with the intended charger, and never keep multiple batteries charging in confined spaces like apartments. Cases involving fatalities and severe burn injuries underscore the seriousness of this issue.
For delivery workers and others who rely on e-bikes for their livelihood, safety precautions are essential. Proper storage and charging are not just regulatory concerns—they are matters of personal and public safety. Lithium batteries can provide convenience and mobility, but without proper care, they present a severe and preventable risk.
