One FDNY firefighter was treated for smoke inhalation when his face mask became dislodged during a fire at a storage unit filled with e-bikes and batteries.
Firefighters were called Sunday afternoon by a building manager who saw smoke coming from a unit.
"They opened up the storage unit. Inside the storage unit, they were encountered with three e-bikes or mopeds on fire," FDNY Assistant Chief Michael Myers told CBS2 reporters.
Those burned bikes were seen on the street out front. Fire officials said they also later pulled 300 bikes and batteries from an adjacent second unit, many of them in boxes.
Fire officials said the sprinkler system was working, but the fire was too overwhelming.
"When fire suppression systems were designed a long time ago, no one had the bikes or a batteries in mind. So what happens is this fire suppression system, they're not designed to put out enough water, the copious amount of water, it takes to put out the batteries or any kind of electrical fire," Myers said.
