A massive blaze that killed members of three generations of a Brooklyn family over the weekend stemmed from a lithium-ion battery used to power an electric scooter owned by one of the victims, FDNY officials said Monday.
The ignited battery created a “wall of fire” that made it extremely difficult for residents to escape 242 Albany Ave. in Crown Heights — where the three-alarm blaze erupted shortly after 4:30 a.m. Sunday, killing matriarch Albertha West, 81, her son Michael West, 58, and grandson Jamiyl West, 33, the FDNY said.
“The volume of fire we see from these batteries creates untenable conditions both for residents to get out, but also for [FDNY] members to get in,” Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said at a news conference announcing the cause of the inferno.
The three West relatives were pulled from the three-story home and initially hospitalized with critical injuries, before being pronounced dead later Sunday, the FDNY said.
At least 14 other people were also injured in the conflagration — including one firefighter who suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries, and was recovering at home Monday, FDNY officials said.
“This was a difficult and dangerous fire that drew a massive response from our members and seriously injured one of our firefighters,” Kavanaugh said.
The lithium-ion battery was found “extensively damaged” in the home, the FDNY boss added.
The scooter that used the powering device belonged to one of the victims killed in the fire, according to Chief Fire Marshal Daniel Flynn, who did not specify which one.
Two scooters were found on the ground floor, where the blaze erupted, Flynn said.
“I would bet very much that the West family thought when they bought this device that it was safe,” Kavanagh added. “The single greatest thing we could do is make sure that unsafe devices can’t be sold.”
Lithium-ion battery-related fires now account for 17 of the 93 fire-related deaths reported across the city so far this year, the top fire official told reporters.
“This number is staggering and is devastating and it underlies a problem that we have been sounding the alarm on for some time,” Kavanagh said.
She referred to the devices as “ticking time bombs” that the city has “gone above and beyond to address” — but argued that the private sector is not doing its part.
“There is blood on the hands of this private industry, both from the online retailers who continue to sell these illegal devices to this day. And from the food delivery apps who continue to think that this problem will solve itself,” she said.
“We cannot and we will not stand by while the industry does nothing to solve a problem that lies squarely at their feet and that they can do something about today,” Kavanagh added.
Neighbor Jason Thompson told the Post Sunday that he awoke in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and saw thick smoke pouring through the bricks into his home.
“I started yelling ‘Get out! Get out!’” Thompson, 44, said. “I have four kids, ages four through 18, so I was just focused on getting everybody out.”
While his family made it out safely, Thompson said the last person that firefighters brought out of the destroyed home “looked like barbeque.”
“They were charred. Laying on a stretcher,” he said.
Thompson says he’s known the next-door neighbors — including Albertha, a grandmother beloved by all on the block — for 40 years.
“Just lovely people we grew up with, their kids and their grandkids,” he added. “They were like family. Very very sweet people.”
