Dozens of people were injured, two critically, in a blaze at a high-rise apartment building in Manhattan caused by a faulty battery, fire officials said.
The fire broke out on Saturday morning in the 37-story building on East 52nd Street, near the East River, according to the New York Daily News.
Dramatic videos posted online showed people hanging out of apartment windows to escape the billowing smoke as firefighters used ropes to scale the building to rescue two people.
Fire officials said some residents above the floor where the fire started escaped to the roof, the Associated Press reports officials saying.
Speaking at a news conference, FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said the fire started in a 20th-floor apartment from a lithium-ion battery connected to an unspecified micromobility device.
Emergency services received calls about fire and smoke at the building shortly before 10.30am, the commissioner said.
Fire units were on the scene in a little over three minutes and encountered a “heavy fire condition”, FDNY Deputy Assistant Chief Frank Leeb said, per ABC News.
