One person died in a fire in an apartment in the Bronx due to a lithium-ion battery

A man died in a lithium-ion battery fire at an apartment building in the Bronx on Saturday, the fire department said.

The fire broke out in an apartment on the top floor of a 40-unit apartment building at 2265 Olinville Ave., near Thwaites Pl. in Allerton around 4:06 p.m., the department said.

A 64-year-old man died in a fire on the sixth floor, which firefighters brought under control by 4:45 p.m., officials said.

Fire inspectors determined The fire was caused by a lithium-ion battery. Several batteries were found in the hallway of the victim’s apartment, according to a senior FDNY source.

This was at least the third time a New Yorker has died from a lithium-ion battery in 2023. Batteries are commonly used in electric scooters.

In the first 10 weeks of this year, lithium-ion batteries started 33 fires, injuring 42 people and killing two.

The deadly fire comes less than two weeks after a lithium-ion battery from an electric scooter caught fire at a Bronx supermarket in Fordham Heights, destroying the building and injuring five firefighters and two civilians.

On March 2, the city council passed a package of lithium-ion battery safety bills that included measures to ban the purchase and sale of uncertified and used e-bike batteries, which are responsible for most fires.

With Thomas Tracy