7 On Your Side Investigates: NYCHA enacts new policy to mitigate fire risk from e-bike batteries
NEW YORK (WABC) -- E-bikes have become one of the leading causes of fire in New York City.
Some city leaders say more needs to be done to help protect hundreds of thousands of people living in apartment buildings across the area.
In many privately owned apartment buildings, e-scooters and bikes are banned but that's not the case for those living in hundreds of government-run NYCHA apartment buildings.
The city developed a new safety policy but some councilmembers don't think it goes far enough.
In just the past few weeks multiple people were injured in Brooklyn and multiple were people rescued from an apartment buliding in the Bronx. Both of those fire were sparked by e-batteries.
NYCHA, the city's largest landlord, came up with a new safety policy.
Tenants can only charge one device at time, barred form using extension cords, and bikes cannot be charged near doors or common spaces. One cityworker says more needs to be done.
"I felt that NYCHA's policy didn't have any teeth into it," Rafael Salamanca, councilmember, told Eyewitness News
He represents an area of the Bronx with one of the largest amount of NYCHA apartments.
"NYCHA is not reviewing these e batteries to make sure they're not black market e batteries," he said.
The agency did testify in front of city council members about the new policy, where they admitted they do not require residents to register their bikes.
"Right now, there's no police to have them register, so how do they know who has one and who doesn't," Salamanca questioned. "There's no way to monitor it
Nycha said it's a "see something say something policy."
If workers spot someone breaking the rules, the property manager will call the tenant in to fix the problem.
"Worst case scenario, nycha will proceed with an administrative termination however our goal is to keep people housed," a NYCHA representative said during a meeting.
Meanwhile, Salamanca is skeptical that anything will be done. "I know that's not going to happen, NYCHA tenants now that's not going to happen so why not create a policy with teeth to ensure that nycha tenants know if you violate this law you will be evicted from your apartment," he said.
The city is using federal grant money to install outdoor charging stations next year at four NYCHA complexes. There are more than 300 complexes in the city.
There have been more than 100 e-battery fires so far this year in the city but that number has gone down slightly from the same time period last year, along with the number of deaths caused by the devices.
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