A suspected e-bike fire in a Fordham Manor building on Creston Avenue adjacent to the famed Paradise Theater was thankfully brought under control before the fire spread to the landmarked building.

 

According to fire officials, the blaze was reported at 11:24 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 14, when the FDNY received a 911 call reporting a fire and smoke on the fourth floor of a 5-story apartment building at 2390 Creston Avenue, between East 184th Street and East 188th Street.

The FDNY reported that 60 firefighters and EMS personnel from 12 units responded to the blaze, which was immediately brought under control. The department said one civilian suffered a minor injury and was evaluated by paramedics but was not transported to a hospital.

 

According to FDNY radio transmissions at the time of the incident, firefighters requested the department’s hazmat unit to deal with “multiple batteries” at the scene of the fire, as well as a drum observed outside the building, often used to carry away e-bike batteries. However, when asked, the FDNY told Norwood News that the fire “cause remains under investigation.”

The famed Loew’s Paradise Theater opened at 2417 Grand Concourse shortly after construction in 1929 and was the movie jewel of the Bronx for decades. Hall of Fame singer, Dion DiMucci, of ‘Dion and the Belmonts’ has publicly recalled meeting his girlfriend, “Runaround Sue,” Butterfield in the last row of the theater. The couple married in 1963. The building was declared a New York City landmark in 1997.

 

The theater closed in 1994 but was later refurbished and reopened. Over the years, the theater has hosted special screenings, rap concerts, and boxing matches. In 2012, the building was leased to World Changers Church, but the congregation shut its doors and the theater has remained closed since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

A call to the building’s owner, real estate mogul, Gerald Lieblich, of Broadway West Enterprises was not immediately returned. His secretary was unaware of a fire in the adjacent building.

 

Norwood News reported on an apparent electrical fire at the landmarked Kingsbridge Armory in April.

 

Click here for some previous coverage on this topic. New York City Council voted to pass additional e-bike safety rules to address the dangers of fires caused by lithium-ion batteries in February 2024.

 

New laws have also been introduced at a federal and State level to address fire safety prevention and the hazards of lithium-ion batteries and e-bikes.

 

Click here for details of a prior federal recall of 53,000 scooters due to a fire hazard involving the deaths of two children.

 

A full list of educational materials on lithium-ion batteries can be found online. Click here to read FDNY’s fire safety tips.

 

On June 25, 2023 federal and City officials announced funding of $25 million for 173 safe e-charging and storage stations at more than 50 NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA) sites.