By Tina Moore
(MAINNEWS) – An e-bike sparked a massive hours-long blaze that gutted a Bronx grocery store and injured seven people — two seriously — on Sunday, officials said.
An EMS worker and a civilian were seriously hurt when flames broke out around 10:40 a.m. at the Concourse Food Plaza at 2096 Grand Concourse in the West Bronx section, officials said. Five firefighters suffered minor injuries.
Tomas E. Gaston
The quick-moving fire was blamed on a scooter’s lithium-ion battery and rose to five alarms, requiring over 50 units and more than 200 firefighters to douse it.
Mayor Adams went to the scene and used the incident to call attention to the batteries, which have sparked a slew of recent fires in the city, some of them fatal.
Tomas E. Gaston
“We have witnessed this over and over again, and that is why we’re going to continue to amplify the message that a simple device like this, this charred scooter, is only a symbol of what is happening behind us and what has continued to take place since early this morning,” Adams said Sunday afternoon. “We’re still fighting the fire because of the type of device the fire started from.”
Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said the bike caused “extraordinary damage.
“This entire building behind me is completely destroyed,” Kavanagh said. “The roof is caved in. There’s nothing left. And it is all because of this single bike.”
Firefighters could be seen carrying the burnt bike away from the scene.
Fires caused by e-bike batteries killed six people in the city in 2022, officials said. Those blazes were among 219 started by the batteries last year and left another 147 people injured.
