Deadly Sunset Park fire renews calls for action on lithium-ion battery dangers

No one knows for sure what sparked this three-alarm fire in Brooklyn's Sunset Park. A nightmare, jolting neighbors out of their sleep. It was bad, flames from the basement, first and second floor. I don't wish this on my worst enemy, you know. It was around 1.40 Thursday morning when flames began shooting out of every window of this multifamily home on 58th Street. Inside, four people were already dead. There was heavy fire that they encountered on arrival. People were trapped. Firefighters arrived in under four minutes rescuing four other neighbors, two of whom later died in the hospital. Meanwhile, at the scene, 231 first responders battled the fire in a building made of all wood. Later, two e-bikes were taken in as evidence, though fire marshals cannot immediately confirm if a lithium-ion battery caused the fire. It comes after a deadly battery fire in the Bronx just last week. Local leaders say they have a solution to this growing e-bike fire problem. A bill is currently sitting in city council that would ban charging e-bikes inside, but it's currently being stalled. There's not enough votes to move it forward. There are a lot of bills that there's just not enough interest to move out of the committee yet. City council member Phil Wong of Queens says... He has been pushing what he calls this common sense bill since February. This year, there have been more than 400 ion battery fires, a stark increase from last year's 292. But without enough support, that bill is not going anywhere. Right now, we don't have enough votes to tell you the truth. It's unclear when fire marshals can determine if the e-bikes are to blame. In Brooklyn's Sunset Park, Mike Lamorte, News 12.