Fire Department of New York (FDNY) firefighters rescued a woman hanging from a window 20 stories above the street at a Manhattan high-rise, according to reports.
The fire that occurred Saturday, November 5, 2022, injured 38 people, including five firefighters, FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh told reporters.
According to the Daily News, two dozen residents trying to escape the fire at the building between First Avenue and Sutton Place fled to the roof and became stranded there.
The fire reported began when a lithium-ion battery attached to an e-bike exploded by the front door of a 20th-floor apartment front door, FDNY Chief Fire Marshall Daniel Flynn told reporters.
Video posted to Twitter showed a woman hanging from a window ledge of the apartment as the fire raged. Firefighters lowered oxygen tanks and masks to the trapped residents, and one firefighter rappelled down the side of the building on a rope to rescue the woman.
Fires sparked by lithium-ion batteries are responsible for six deaths so far this year, Flynn said, and the FDNY reported that there have been twice the as many e-bike and e-scooter battery fires so far this year than in all of 2021.
