Row of CitiBikes Torched by Trash Fire in Hell’s Kitchen

A roaring conflagration torched an entire row of parked CitiBikes on W. 44th St. in the wee hours of Thursday, Sept. 4, leaving their charred husks visible for much of the morning rush hour.

The NYPD told Chelsea News that the fire—near 530 W. 44th St., which is part of the Gotham West luxury apartment complex—began in a nearby pile of trash located on the sidewalk at around 4:16 a.m., before quickly overtaking the charging row of e-bikes. Responding firefighting units got the fire under control by 6:15 a.m. The fire reportedly blew out a window on the first floor of Gotham West.

There were no injuries reported, and the incident is being investigated by the fire marshal. No suspects have been identified as starting the fire, although an initial report in the local blog W42nd St. said that an unidentified man possibly did so. The NYPD merely reiterated to Chelsea News that officers were still “investigating” what had happened on September 5.

Workers that had pulled up in a CitiBike-branded van were still removing destroyed bikes and debris as of 10 a.m. Some of the bikes appeared mostly intact, at least from from the rear—although their front handles were utterly covered in soot and possibly burnt-out beyond repair. A thick gray ash covered the street, with the sickly smell of chemicals persisting in the air; a large chunk of the block was taped off.

Dramatic footage of the fire was shared with W42nd St. by a resident of Gotham West, Carolina Rivera (not to be mistaken for Carlina Rivera, the recently-retired District 1 City Council Member). Her partner could be heard saying “God, that’s a horrible smell,” while a genuine inferno of fire emanated from the western end of the bike racks. “Why aren’t they putting it out?”

Unlike some e-bikes, CitiBike batteries are deemed UL-certified, meaning that they are regulated and not prone to exploding of their own volition. This means that their sealed lithium-ion batteries have electrically isolated cells, reinforced by flame-retardant (or preventative) plastic housing, which can better prevent the kind of “thermal runaway” reaction that can cause unregulated batteries to violently combust.

However, extreme heat from an exterior source can still certainly result in regulated lithium batteries exploding. As the FDNY is still investigating the Sept. 4 incident, it’s unclear if any of the CitiBike batteries blew up.

Meanwhile, unregulated lithium-ion batteries have caused disastrous and fatal fires in NYC over the past few years, with the FDNY deeming such blazes a top concern. There were 277 fires caused by faulty lithium-ion batteries in 2024, the FDNY noted, which killed six people. One such victim was Fazil Khan, a journalist living in Harlem that was killed by an out-of-control fire last February. Furthermore, 18 people were killed citywide by faulty e-bike fires in 2023.

To further mitigate such fires, city officials began rolling out a battery-swap program this year, where delivery drivers—or other recreational e-bike users—can swap their untested batteries for UL-certified ones at specific sites. The Adams administration has allocated $2 million towards the program, and says it hopes to swap out 400 unregulated batteries for proper ones by the end of the year.