Five members of the Adam-Maine family went to sleep in an apartment in The Bronx’s Patterson Houses on Oct. 27 — and only one survived the night.
asserted
one → go → Oct.
Three children and one adult perished in the city’s latest confirmed battery-fire inferno, bringing the year’s total fatalities to nine so far.
asserted
children → perish → nine
This cause of death didn’t even exist back in 2019.
asserted
cause → exist → 2019
But now that we know the uniquely deadly risks of lithium-ion batteries, it shouldn’t be hard for Gov. Kathy Hochul, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the City Council to assure us: Nobody else must die.
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Nobody → know → us
This family’s incineration fits a familiar narrative.
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incineration → fit → narrative
One of the apartment’s residents was storing an e-bike in the apartment’s kitchen, blocking the single exit.
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One → store → exit
The same thing happened in August, when an e-bike explosion in Brooklyn’s Albany Houses, another NYCHA complex, killed 18-year-old Caleb Matthews.
And just last week, six people lost their lives in a Sunset Park house fire.
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people → happen → fire
The FDNY hasn’t determined the cause, but battery-powered micromobility devices were present at the scene.
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devices → determine → scene
Since 2020, when New York state and city legalized e-bikes and e-scooters, lithium-ion battery deaths have claimed 44 lives — not counting the six souls in Sunset Park.
asserted
deaths → legalize → Park
This scourge of battery deaths reversed decades of fire progress.
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scourge → reverse → progress
Over the past seven years, average annual fire deaths have reached 78, up from 65 annually over the seven previous years.
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deaths → reach → years
Already this year, 87 people have died in fires.
So what is the city doing about this crisis?
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city → die → crisis
Yes, three years ago, Mayor Eric Adams banned the sale of uncertified or refurbished batteries — and the city touts its enforcement sweeps.
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city → ban → sweeps
But even a certified new battery becomes a used, corroded, dangerous battery after months or years of exposure to rain, snow, salt and repeat charges — and the city ignores streetside maintenance and repair of these devices, anyway.
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city → certify → devices
Nothing will work, unless and until the mayor and the council start governing e-bikes and e-scooters as regulated motor vehicles.
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mayor → work → vehicles
First, the City Council must pass a resolution calling on Hochul and the state legislature to regulate e-bikes as a type of motorcycle or car, not as a variant of the human-powered bicycle.
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Council → pass → bicycle
As Andrew Fine of the NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance points out, requiring registration of these vehicles would be a step toward a system of annual inspections that would remove dangerous batteries from streets and homes.
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that → require → streets
Second, NYCHA’s board must ban these devices from the city’s public-housing apartments — not just charging them, but storing them, too.
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board → ban → them
As the FDNY notes, 59% of battery fires happen when the things aren’t plugged in.
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things → note → fires
Third, the City Council must update the fire code to ban e-bikes and e-scooters from private apartments and houses.
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Council → update → apartments
Absurdly, the current fire code allows New Yorkers to keep and charge five such devices in a private home.
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Yorkers → allow → home
“Charge these batteries outside whenever you can,” FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore counseled on Monday.
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Bonsignore → charge → Monday
But if it’s that unsafe to charge them inside — which this advice implicitly acknowledges — it should be illegal to do so.
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it → ’ → which
Many private landlords and co-op and condo management companies already ban them from their buildings.
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landlords → ban → buildings
Yes, banning e-devices indoors would spark protest from the food delivery-worker collective — and intense behind-the-scenes lobbying by delivery apps.
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banning → ban → apps
The food-delivery industry depends on e-bikes.
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industry → depend → bikes
But delivery apps and restaurants should provide their workers with company-owned equipment.
Those businesses should maintain and store e-bikes and e-scooters at their own fire-protected industrial properties — not force workers to put their families and neighbors in danger.
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businesses → provide → danger
What if you’re just using an e-bike to get around town?
Well, New Yorkers also use cars, motorcycles and mopeds for that purpose.
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Yorkers → use → purpose
But owning them carries responsibility: You can’t store those motor vehicles in your apartment.
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You → own → apartment
If you lack a garage or yard for e-bike storage, get a regular bike — or take the bus or train.
And perhaps the city could lease well-regulated sidewalk-shed space to companies that can store and charge these things for a customer fee.
uncertain
that → lack → fee
Finally, Hochul must direct the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to ban e-bikes and scooters from subways and elevators.
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Hochul → direct → subways
It’s now impossible to avoid them — often rusted, dented and duct-taped — in any subway car.
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It → ’ → car
We don’t need your mournful tweets when 100 people die in a subway-car inferno after one of these things goes up and someone pulls the emergency brake, trapping everyone.
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someone → need → everyone
We need your action now, before more tragedies strike.
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tragedies → need → action
The Aporia
