One person suffers hurt, 3 displaced in Seaford house fire caused by e-bike, fire official says
The Seaford Fire Department and six other departments battled a house fire on Park Avenue in Seaford just before midnight on Friday. Credit: Paul Mazza
An e-bike is believed to have ignited a house fire in Seaford late Friday night that left one person in the hospital and three displaced, according to the Nassau County Fire Marshal's Office.
About 100 firefighters battled the fire that began shortly before midnight. Both floors of a two-story house on Park Avenue were engulfed by a "large fire" by the time firefighters arrived on scene, a fire marshal's news release said.
Investigators believe the fire was caused by an e-bike, according to Captain Michael Mennella of the Fire Marshal's Office.
"I can confirm that our Fire Investigator does believe that the fire started with an e-bike that was being charged on the front porch of the home," he wrote in an email to Newsday on Saturday afternoon.
Seven different departments extinguished the fire within two hours of arriving at the home. The agencies were the Seaford, Bellmore, Massapequa, Merrick, North Bellmore, North Massapequa and Wantagh fire departments.
The home was left uninhabitable, according to the fire marshal's office. Three residents were displaced, the news release said. One person was taken to a hospital for smoke inhalation.
The fire is still under investigation.
Fires involving e-bikes are generally caused by a lithium-ion battery overheating while being charged. But the process known as thermal runaway, when batteries generate more heat than can be dissipated, can also occur while riding or even when an e-bike is being stored.
Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2024 signed a series of bills to regulate how the batteries are sold in response to a rise in deadly fires attributable to the batteries. Hundreds of e-bike fires have been reported annually in New York City, Newsday previously reported.
Sam Kmack covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California and previously worked as a city watchdog reporter in the Phoenix metro area, as well as an investigative journalist at the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting.
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