Emma Seiwell, Thomas Tracy, Elizabeth Keogh
New York Daily News
(TNS)
The Queens daycare where 18 children were injured after a fire broke out due to a faulty lithium-ion battery was unlicensed and running out of a basement, the Daily News has learned.
The fire started in the basement of the two-story home on 72nd Drive near 147th St. in Kew Gardens Hills around 2:05 p.m., FDNY officials said.
Both the daycare and a dentist lab were operating in the basement, which had been converted without a Department of Buildings work permit, the DOB said.
The blaze spread through the cellar of the single-family home when a charging e-bike exploded, sources said.
When firefighters arrived, five adults, one teenager and 19 children ranging from 16 months to 5-years-old were inside, the sources added.
A 16-month-old toddler was critically injured in the fire. The other kids did not require treatment, FDNY officials and sources said.
The injured buy suffered smoke inhalation and was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Queens Hospital, where he was listed in serious but stable condition in the hospital’s intensive care unit Thursday, sources said.
The childcare center is unlicensed, the New York State Office of Children and Family Services told The News.
“The agency is conducting a thorough review to determine if it was, in fact, operating illegally,” an OCFS spokesperson said in a statement.
A childcare license is required by the state if a person or program is caring for more than two children who are not related to them, away from the child’s home and on a regular basis for three or more hours per day.
Officials are still investigating whether the 18 children in the house were related to the home owner operating the daycare.
The DOB issued the owner two violations for illegal construction work to the basement and for operating businesses out of the space. City records had listed the basement as a storage area, the agency said.
A neighbor who has lived on the block for about over a decade said he spotted parents dropping their kids off at the childcare center every morning.
“I’m pretty upset that they’d be running that kind of thing,” said Benny Taubenfeld. “I mean, it could have been a lot worse than it was. I hope the one child will be okay.”
A full vacate order was issued for the building.
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