Latest / Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning / Natalie Migliore, WOR Reporter

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Natalie Migliore, WOR Reporter · Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning

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  Speaker 1: Now, it's 710WOR Speed on the Street with Natalie Migliore.
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  Speaker 2: Wow, a lot of fires in the five boroughs of late,
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  Speaker 2: sometimes back to back. And reporting to us from the
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  Speaker 2: streets is our own Natalie Migliore.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, New York City is really marking a grim milestone
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  Speaker 3: with a record number of e-bike battery fires. And those
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  Speaker 3: e-bikes are run by lithium ion batteries, which are in
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  Speaker 3: our laptops and our phones and everything in between. Now,
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  Speaker 3: Mary from the Bronx says she knows the issue all
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  Speaker 3: too well after a family in a neighboring building died
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  Speaker 3: in the Patterson houses in the Bronx two weeks ago.
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  Speaker 4: I have one scooter in my house, and after that,
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  Speaker 4: we have to take it out because it's so dangerous.
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  Speaker 4: That's next to my building. That one electric bike that's
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  Speaker 4: going to be fired, and the kids die, and the
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  Speaker 4: whole family from him is dying. So, yeah, I'm so
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  Speaker 4: scared about that now.
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  Speaker 3: Did that change how you store your scooter?
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  Speaker 4: Obviously, I had to take out because I'm so scared.
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  Speaker 4: But now I don't want anything in my house because
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  Speaker 4: it's so dangerous.
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  Speaker 3: Now, not every New Yorker is as plugged in as
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  Speaker 3: Mary because it doesn't always hit so close to home.
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  Speaker 3: The New York City Council is holding a hearing on
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  Speaker 3: residential fires and these lithium-ion battery storage practices next week
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  Speaker 3: in response to the sharp rise in these fires, these
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  Speaker 3: lithium-ion battery fires. New Yorkers say something needs to be done,
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  Speaker 3: whether by the city or buildings or both.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, it's just logic, okay? It is dangerous. There
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  Speaker 1: needs to be very specific places or ways they can charge.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not saying take them away from them, but find
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  Speaker 1: a better way to handle it.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I received a letter from housing, and
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  Speaker 4: they say nobody can have more than one scooter or
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  Speaker 4: electric bike charging. So that's good. I feel like it's
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  Speaker 4: so more secure now.
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  Speaker 5: They got a room downstairs where they put the bikes.
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  Speaker 3: Does that even worry you?
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  Speaker 5: A little bit, but it's separate. You know, it's isolated.
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  Speaker 5: It's a big room. It's concrete in there.
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  Speaker 3: Well, the FDNY has long been trying to educate people
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  Speaker 3: on lithium ion batteries and their dangers.
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  Speaker 5: They've set out guidelines.
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  Speaker 3: Don't charge these things in front of your only way
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  Speaker 3: of exit, especially if you live in an apartment. Don't
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  Speaker 3: keep them plugged in overnight. Use regulated batteries approved by,
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  Speaker 3: you know, approved sellers whether you're getting them on amazon
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  Speaker 3: or elsewhere from other retailers it comes as the fdny
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  Speaker 3: reports more than 400 lithium ion related battery fires so
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  Speaker 3: far this year that's up from 292 in the same
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  Speaker 3: time frame last year.
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  Speaker 6: I mean there's a staggering amount yeah very bad they
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  Speaker 6: need to do something about it like people dying over
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  Speaker 6: in the house get caught in the house and they
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  Speaker 6: can't get out to get trapped i think that something
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  Speaker 6: has to be done about these batteries that are blowing
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  Speaker 6: up A hundred percent. They make it difficult to own
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  Speaker 6: regulation ones. So people have to use a black market
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  Speaker 6: to get cheaper ones. And those ones are combustible.
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  Speaker 1: I know they're dangerous, but in my little circle, it's
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  Speaker 1: not an issue, but it is dangerous and something should
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  Speaker 1: be done about it, especially on airplanes and the basements
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  Speaker 1: of apartment buildings. Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: Now, if you remember.
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  Speaker 3: The city was offering trade in programs to ensure people
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  Speaker 3: have regulated lithium ion batteries. We haven't heard about that
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  Speaker 3: necessarily in a while. And Mary says her building sent
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  Speaker 3: out a notice limiting the amount of e-bikes you can
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  Speaker 3: have inside your unit. But I want to know if
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  Speaker 3: her neighbors will follow the rules.
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  Speaker 4: They're supposed to, you know, like after that thing, like
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  Speaker 4: next to them, maybe, yeah. because everybody's scared now.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it should be terrifying for everyone who lives in
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  Speaker 1: that building, and it should be against the law. I
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  Speaker 1: know it's rough, you want to charge, but danger, danger, danger.
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  Speaker 2: Danger for the firefighters, right, having to go in and
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  Speaker 2: fight these fires. By the way, where's the fire commissioner
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  Speaker 2: since we've had a whole spate of these fires?
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  Speaker 5: Larry, Natalie, our.
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  Speaker 2: Audience, Lillian Bonsignore, the new fire commissioner appointed by Zoran. Yep.
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  Speaker 2: is partying in Puerto Rico with all the other Democrats
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  Speaker 2: after every election. They have this Somos conference. They get
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  Speaker 2: wine dined and pocket lined by lobbyists. They party to
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  Speaker 2: the break of dawn, Eric Adams style.
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  Speaker 5: Where the hell is Lillian?
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  Speaker 2: And how come she's not being called out?
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  Speaker 5: This is an emergency now. Why are you fire commissioner for?
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  Speaker 5: You're putting out fires in Puerto Rico?
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 3: And the former fire commissioner, or at least one or two,
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  Speaker 3: When this originally started happening, I mean, we've started seeing
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  Speaker 3: these numbers just pile up with lithium ion related fires.
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  Speaker 3: We've been covering them for years now, and it's gotten
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  Speaker 3: more and more every year as these bikes become more popular.
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  Speaker 3: And they've gone down the FDNY previously to Washington, D.C.
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  Speaker 3: to state their case as to why things need to
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  Speaker 3: be regulated in this certain case, this certain Fire commissioner,
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  Speaker 3: you know, after.
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  Speaker 5: A week of a slew of... Yeah, too busy partying
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  Speaker 5: in Puerto Rico.
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  Speaker 2: By the way, there are fake walls, illegal subdivisions, electrical
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  Speaker 2: outlets that have too many plugs in it.
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  Speaker 5: And of course, the heaters which are going to be
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  Speaker 5: put on, those... dangerous electrical heaters. It's not even freezing
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  Speaker 5: weather yet.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, Lillian Bonsignore, new fire commissioner, why don't you come
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  Speaker 2: back from Puerto Rico?
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  Speaker 3: In your story, the ones I feel the most horrible
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  Speaker 3: for are the people that just happen to live in
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  Speaker 3: those apartments next door.
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  Speaker 5: I mean, they didn't do anything wrong.
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  Speaker 3: These things should be called illegal and just get rid
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  Speaker 3: of them for right now because until they figure it out.