NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Lithium-ion battery deaths in New York City went down 67% in 2024, but FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker told 1010 WINS that he “won't be satisfied until that number is 0.”
There were 18 fatalities caused by lithium-ion batteries in NYC in 2023, prompting heightened efforts by the FDNY—which has been sounding off about the batteries’ threat since 2021—to minimize deaths. The department said that consistent safety messaging, inspections, community outreach and a targeted $1 million ad campaign helped there be only six deaths in 2024.
There were 78 total fire deaths in 2024, down 25% from the year before.
“Whenever anybody dies in a fire, it’s a huge challenge for me,” Tucker said. “But the progress we’re seeing is, I think, related to the fact that we’re talking about it a lot.”
Last year the FDNY’s Fire Safety Education Unit conducted 3,160 presentations, meant to provide people information on fire safety and to help residential fire deaths lower. The unit reached an estimated 508,975 New Yorkers.
Despite deaths dropping, the amount of lithium-ion battery fires spiked slightly, increasing from 268 in 2023 to 277 in 2024, the FDNY said. But 133 of these fires were non-structural, meaning they occurred outdoors, while only 90 fires in 2023 were non-structural.
“The deaths are related to structural fires, and the number of structural fires is down, but the fact of the matter is that, you know, we still have way too many of them,” Tucker said.
To help in its movement to safely manage lithium-ion batteries, the FDNY’s Lithium-ion Battery Task Force inspected 585 e-bike shops, 25% more than in 2023. They issued 426 FDNY summonses, 138 violation orders, 32 criminal summonses and issued seven vacate orders within the Department of Buildings, the department said.
“We’re finding uncertified batteries and we’re finding batteries that are being overcharged and we’re finding, you know, dangerous electrical outlets,” Tucker said. “Frankly, it’s the reason we have had 277 of these types of fires.”
Tucker said that the department is going to continue inspections, ask the city for more money to continue public education and continue to push for federal legislation that would create a national standard for batteries.
“[A national standard] allows this to be stopped at ports, allows port inspections to take place, and to turn this product around before it gets into the United States market,” Tucker said.