FDNY boss battling unsafe bike batteries

Commissioner Kavanagh meets the press to spread the FDNY’s warnings

by Michael Gannon Senior News Editor FDNY Commissioner

Laura Kavanagh last Friday was asked for a compelling argument for the city’s fight to crack down on uncertified lithium-ion batteries that have proliferated in the last three years, and become increasingly dangerous.

She said the casualties were a good place to start.

“The statistics we have are very compelling,” Kavanagh said on a Zoom call with about 20 reporters from a small and ethnic media group.

“We’ve had 17 deaths [in 2023]. That’s an extraordinary number. That number was zero in 2020. That shows you how quickly this has become a problem.”

Kavanagh and Chief Fire Marshal Daniel Flynn outlined the city’s ongoing legal and legislative battles against the batteries, as well as a massive outreach aimed at educating the public.

“Nothing is more important than getting the message out there,” Kavanagh said. “We can save lives in every community, in every language, in every method people use to consume their news.”

Kavanagh said the key is for everyone from recreational bike and scooter users to professional food deliveristas who rely on them to make a living to purchase only batteries or vehicles that have been certified by UL or a similarly reputable testing agency.

“It’s not the legal bike shops where we are having fires,” the commissioner said.

“One of the things that’s so unusual about these fires, what make them so dangerous, is that they don’t begin slowly like most fires,” Kavanagh said. “They explode. This is essentially having a ticking time bomb in your house. And you’ll see, if you’ve seen any of our [public service announcements] that once they go off, peo- ple have no time to get out. Maybe a matter of seconds, if that.”

She also said the speed makes it more difficult for firefighters to get to a fire and get inside quickly to begin putting it out.

Flynn was direct when asked about reconditioned batteries.

“Don’t buy them — short answer,” he said. Flynn and the commissioner said anyone who chooses to buy the bikes and batteries make sure they are UL-certified and from reputable manufacturers. “With these devices, sometimes the cheapest option is not always the best option,” he said.

Kavanagh said there are other do’s and don’ts, such as not using incompatible batteries, bikes and chargers; not charging them when asleep; and charging outdoors when possible.

“And never keep them between you and your door out,” she said.

Kavanagh said she and Flynn got a promising reception this past summer when lobbying in Washington, DC, for national safety standards. “Nobody was against it,” she said. Then, of course, Congress ran into delays such as kicking out and replacing the House speaker’s post.

“We don’t want this passing next year,” the commissioner said. “This is a crisis now.”

She said while uncertified vehicles and batteries are illegal in New York City, it is very easy to bring them into the five boroughs from elsewhere in the country. She said a national federal standard could keep them from coming into the country illegally. Q