NYC fire that killed 8-year-old girl blamed on electric scooter battery

Electric scooter battery is to blame for Queens fire that killed 8-year-old girl

An electric scooter battery sparked a fire that killed an 8-year-old girl in New York City, authorities said. The death of Stephanie Villa Torres on Saturday was at least the third time in a little over a year that a fatal fire in the city has been linked to a scooter battery.

Saturday's fire was reported around 7:30 a.m. at a home in Queens, a police spokesperson said. Stephanie was found unresponsive and was pronounced dead at a hospital. The girl's father and 18-year-old brother were treated for burns and smoke inhalation, officials said.

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A fire department spokesperson said the blaze was caused by a lithium battery from an electric scooter — one of scores of fires blamed on electric scooter and bike batteries in New York City over the past two years.

This has been the third death in N.Y.C. blamed on electric scooter batteries within the last year.

A woman and a 5-year-old girl were killed Aug. 3 in Harlem by a fire that was blamed on a scooter battery, and a fire linked to an e-scooter killed a 9-year-old boy in Queens in September 2021.

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