Three Queensboro Hill residents and a firefighter were injured while the FDNY battled a house fire a few blocks south of Kissena Corridor Park on Friday morning.
The blaze broke out in a home at 142-33 60th Ave. just before 5:30 a.m. The first firefighters on the scene found heavy fire emanating from the first floor that may have been sparked and intensified by the presence of lithium-ion batteries and a half-dozen e-bikes inside the home.
The FDNY dispatched a dozen units and 60 firefighters and EMS personnel to the scene between 142nd Street and 146th Street a block north of the Long Island Expressway, where they encountered a serious obstacle caused by the sub-freezing temperatures.
“When they stretched their hose, they had a frozen hydrant in front of the building, so they had to go up and find another hydrant up the road, so there was a delay in water,” FDNY Chief Christopher Paolicelli of Division 14 said. “We have water in the fire engine, the booster, so they were able to use that water until the chauffeur was able to secure a working hydrant that was further up the block.”
In FDNY vernacular, an engine company chauffeur is a firefighter who is responsible for driving the fire trucks to the scene and then locating and tapping the hydrants. A Hazmat unit was called after lithium-ion batteries were detected inside the residence after the fire was brought under control at 6:39 a.m., more than an hour after the first units arrived at the location.
“The companies put out the fire, and then we saw that multiple e-bikes and lithium-ion batteries had been on fire,” Chief Paolicelli said.
EMS transported three civilians to area hospitals. Two residents were listed in serious but stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries, the FDNY said. Another civilian and a firefighter were treated for minor injuries.
FDNY fire marshals will determine the exact cause of the blaze.
