Four people were injured after an early-morning fire in Manhattan early Sunday morning, authorities said.
The FDNY received a call around 1:30 a.m. about the blaze on the fifth floor of a six-story building on Sherman Avenue. It took about one hour for first responders to contain the flames. It was later found that a lithium-ion battery was the cause.
Chief of Fire Operations John Esposito said New Yorkers must exercise caution when it comes to charging these batteries.
"We should not be charging them overnight," he said at a press conference Sunday. "We should not be charging them in a path of egress from the apartment. A suggestion would be to charge them while you're awake in a room that nobody is in with the door closed."
Three victims were taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition and one person suffered non-life-threatening injuries, officials said.
Just last week, another fire broke out at a Queens daycare, injuring 18 children, also sparked by a lithium-ion battery from an e-bike.
