Queens ER doctor says treating lithium-ion burn victims ‘more like industrial fires’ Battery fires create medical challenges

by Michael Gannon Senior News Editor

When the City Council last week passed his bill mandating that the FDNY make regular reports on the dangers associated with fires cause by lithiun-ion batteries, Councilman Bob Holden (D-Maspeth) said it was about getting information.

“With the growing use ... we must have a better understanding of the risks associated with these batteries,” Holden said.

In an exchange of emails this past weekend, Dr. Mannish Sharma, chief of emergency medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Queens, told the Chronicle that emergency medical personnel already have learned some hard lessons.

“Lithium-ion batteries store a significant amount of electricity/energy and the larger batteries used in electronic vehicles store even more,” he told the Chronicle via email in response to a series of questions submitted to the hospital.

The abruptness and speed with which the fires form and spread have been discussed at length by FDNY officials for tackling fires. Sharma said the consequences are at emergency room entrances in ambulances.

“The fires ignited by these batteries are abrupt and cause an explosive burst of energy that can cause large amounts of immediate damage and injury,” Sharma said.

“The increase in energy stored leads to a more significant explosion and sustained fire. That leads to more significant burns due to prolonged exposure to heat/energy/combustion,” he continued. “The immediate explosion frequently doesn’t allow people to escape the trauma, like with traditional fires.”

And treating burn victims, always difficult, has gotten tougher with bike and scooter batteries — and the chemicals and materials used to build them — increasingly entered into the equation.

“The medical care we provide is focused on treating the burns and limiting ongoing burns by removing offending agents from the person’s clothing/skin,” Sharma said. “This is more difficult with lithium batteries and requires prolonged treatment. In addition, lithium battery explosions generate numerous chemical emissions and as such, we treat these exposures more like industrial fires vs. home fires.”

And, echoing concerns that FDNY brass has voiced to all who will listen, the very facts that they are increasing in popularity and are regularly charged inside structures only increase the hazard.

Six people were killed in battery-related fires in New York City last year. The New York Post reported Sunday that there were 219 such fires in the city in 2022 that also injured 147.

Speaking at a public safety conference on Feb. 24, FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said there had been 22 fires, 36 injuries and two deaths this year due to lithium-ion batteries. A blaze Sunday that destroyed a grocery store on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx added seven injured to that toll, including five FDNY personnel.

On Jan. 20, a battery fire killed an East Elmhurst man and injured 10 others, including four firefighters, the Chronicle reported at the time.

On Jan. 25, 18 children were hurt, including one seriously, in a fire at an unlicensed daycare center in Kew Gardens Hills. Q

Italian

Sunday, March 26, 2023 – 1:00 - 5:00pm

The dramatic story of how ordinary, courageous Italians established a secret network where they hid, protected and saved 80% of the Jews in Italy from captivity and certain death.

YAD VASHEM has honored these unsung heroes as RIGHTEOUS AMONG NATIONS. Join us to learn more about this signifi cant chapter in world history.

RSVP: Before March 22, 2023 - 718-805-1833 | email: jbgaglianol4@yahoo.com

ADMISSION: $55.00 PROGRAM and LUNCHEON

LOCATION: CHRIST THE KING HIGH SCHOOL CAMPUSCNL DOOR #10 - 1 st FLOOR 6802 METROPOLITAN AVE., MIDDLE VILLAGE, NY 11379 FREE PARKING – HANDICAP ACCESSIBLE