1 firefighter hurt when blaze tears through e-bike shop in Richmond Hill for 2nd time this year
RICHMOND HILL, Queens (WABC) -- Flames destroyed part of an e-bike shop in Richmond Hill early Thursday morning, forcing people who live above the shop out of their homes in the middle of the night.
The blaze broke out at the Kings Electric Scooters shop in Richmond Hill around 2:30 a.m.
The fire reportedly broke out in a garage area where the bikes are stored. More than two dozen electric and gas-powered bikes were pulled out of the store on Jamaica Avenue.
This wasn't the first time the shop went up in flames. Eyewitness News was there back in March when the store caught fire.
"It was the second time that this garage caught on fire. The first time it was a few months ago," one resident said. "The first was definitely worse but this one isn't good either."
One firefighter was taken to Jamaica Hospital with a minor injury.
The city issued a vacate order for the back garage of the building after the first fire in March -- and it's still active today. That means there wasn't supposed to be any activity in that portion of the building.
FDNY officials said crews needed to isolate the e-bikes once they were removed and then had to carefully remove all of the batteries from the devices and put them in metal barrels to keep them from exploding.
"The messaging has to be out there that we shouldn't be charging these during sleeping hours. We shouldn't have them by the doors that are the exits from our multiple dwellings. We want to use them safely and we always want to make sure we're using an approved product that has been tested by a certification agency," Deputy Fire Chief George Healy, said.
After Thursday's fire, inspectors noticed another problem. The building's cellar had been illegally converted into two apartments so they issued violations for illegal construction and conversion work.
There have been 162 e-battery fires in the city so far this year and we are on track to meet last year's numbers. There has, however, been a significant decrease in injuries and deaths.
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