At least 38 injured in high-rise fire in Manhattan

NEW YORK – Firefighters, using ropes and dangling off a high-rise in midtown Manhattan, rescued a woman who was trapped in a fire that injured at least 38 people Saturday, officials said.

The fire at 429 E. 52nd St. was caused by a lithium-ion battery in an electric bicycle, authorities said. The unit where the fire started had at least five e-bikes, Chief Fire Marshal Daniel Flynn said.

Officials said they believe a resident of the apartment repaired bikes and were investigating whether unauthorized business activity had taken place.

About 200 fires in New York City this year have been caused by lithium-ion batteries, resulting in six deaths, he said. These batteries are found in micro-mobility transportation devices such as electric bikes, scooters and hoverboards. The fires caused by the batteries are typically intense and can quickly gain momentum with any combustible objects around them, officials said.

A sign outside the apartment complex read, “No pedal or e-bikes allowed beyond this point.” Fire officials said any device that used the powerful lithium-ion batteries could cause a risk, not only those in bicycles.

In a dramatic moment caught on video and posted on social media, firefighters rescued a woman from a 20th-floor apartment where officials said the fire started. Firefighters pulled the woman through a shattered window on a floor below. One other person was rescued by rope from the unit.

A deputy assistant chief, Frank Leeb, described the use of a rope rescue as “a last resort in the FDNY.”

Of those hurt, two were in critical condition, five were in serious condition and the rest had minor injuries, fire officials said.

They said they were still compiling information about the people injured as well as the number of people who were displaced, who will receive help from the Red Cross.

Officials said lingering questions around whether there had been building safety issues – whether there was or should have been a fire alarm; whether doors were left open, feeding the fire; whether fire protection and planning at the building were adequate – would be part of their investigation.

Residents described a scene of confusion and uncertainty about what had happened.

Riley Jankowski, 23, said she smelled smoke and initially thought her apartment complex had turned the heat on.

It wasn’t until she heard fire trucks, she said, that she opened her window blinds, saw smoke and realized the threat.

At about 10:30 a.m., she ran out of her apartment on the sixth floor and banged on her neighbors’ doors, yelling, “Fire!”

“I run down the stairs, and as I’m running out on the courtyard, the window bursts, and glass flies around as I’m on the phone with my mom screaming for my life,” she said.

Allie Gold and Grant Rosenberg, both 26, left their 10th-floor apartment when they smelled smoke and saw it billowing out of a window.

“The alarm didn’t go off, but it seemed like everyone got the memo and started going out,” Rosenberg said.

Along with Samantha Wilker, 30, a friend who was visiting, and their dog, Norman, they went down the stairs as firefighters were coming in. Upon exiting the building, the three saw windows pop above them.

The street of the complex reopened to pedestrians about 1 p.m., about three hours after the fire was reported.

Some residents stood outside the building waiting for their dogs to be rescued. Crowds of passersby that had been watching the activity had dissipated by then. Surrounding the emergency, New Yorkers were spending their Saturday sitting at brunch and walking small dogs on a warmer-than-expected day.

Residents who lived above the 20th floor, where the fire was, evacuated to the roof. The New York Police Department dispatched a helicopter, but no rescues were conducted with it.

Other residents fled to the street via stairs or elevator, but the fire officials said they may have been safer remaining in their units with doors closed because the structure of the building is not combustible.

The fire comes nearly a year after a conflagration in the Bronx killed 17 people after open apartment and stairwell doors allowed smoke to spread.

Eric Zuehlke, 44, was walking home from the subway after spending the night in Brooklyn and did not realize the commotion was about his building. He has lived on the 15th floor for about two years.

His 9-year-old son has a friend on the 23rd floor, above the fire, who is part of a family with three young sons. Last he had heard, a child and grandparent were inside the building, and he was trying to confirm the safety of the family.

A couple, who asked not to be named for privacy, said they didn’t notice anything was amiss until about an hour after the fire started, when they came upstairs from doing their laundry in the basement.

“We didn’t hear any fire alarm, any announcement, anything,” one said.