The devastating Upper Manhattan apartment fire responsible for the death of one person and injuries to at least 17 others is being blamed on a lithium-ion battery.
The FDNY said its Fire Marshals determined the cause of the fire a day after raging flames tore through the building in Hamilton Heights, leaving some residents trapped in their homes, clinging to windows as they tried to escape.
A 27-year-old data journalist in the prime of his career has been identified as the fire's sole fatality.
Friends and colleagues of Fazil Khan left behind bouquets on the stopp of the apartment building over the weekend. The Columbia University grad worked as a reporter for nonprofit newsroom, The Hechinger Report. According to their website, Khan poured over data to expose inequality and shine a light on innovation in education.
Some of his published reported included investigations on the New York City children who lost their parents to COVID-19.
A friend sharing this about Khan – who immigrated to New York from India: “Fazil was an ambitious and talented data journalist and one of the sweetest friends I’ve ever had. This is a loss not just for his close friends and family but for the journalism community as a whole.”
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The fire broke out around 2 p.m. Friday on the third floor of the building on St. Nicholas Place near 149th Street in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood, according to the FDNY. Crews responded to the scene in three minutes, seeing people on fire escapes of the six-story building.
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Smoke and fire was blowing into the hallways of the building, shutting off a way out for some residents living on higher floors. A woman can be heard on cellphone video taken from the street yelling "Don't jump" up to those seen in windows, desperate to get out on the alley side of the building.
FDNY officials described it as a "very challenging" fire to fight, saying it was "so dangerous, firefighters had to make three rope rescues, which something very unusual for us to do at one fire." Another fire official said the department typically only performs one or two of those kinds of rescues a year, so three in one incident is very uncommon.
Three victims were found unconscious in the upper floors of the building and were rushed downstairs to receive help from EMS.
One person was killed in the blaze and another 17 were hurt, four of whom were in critical condition at the hospital, fire officials said at a Friday evening news conference. Three of those saved in the rope rescues were said to be among those in critical condition.
"Unfortunately, someone had to die and I am so sorry about that but it had been brought to management’s attention," said resident Dorothy Montague.
Montague has lived in the building for more than 50 years. She told News 4 that she started worrying when she noticed new tenants parking their e-bikes outside and charging their lithium batteries indoors.
"I did see the elongated battery in their hands and I asked one young man, 'please be careful, please be careful,' and I spoke to management," she said.
Earlier this month, FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanaugh warned that lithium-ion batteries are now a leading cause of fires and fire deaths in the city.
Khan's death is the first this year linked to battery-sparked fires. Since the start of the year, the FDNY says its investigators have opened 24 cases into fire potentially started by lithium-ion batteries.
