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Firefighters rescued a desperate woman hanging from a window 20 stories above the street as dozens of people were trapped inside a Manhattan high-rise Saturday in a massive blaze that was sparked by an e-bike battery, the Fire Department said.
The smoky blaze reported at about 10:30 a.m. injured 38 people, including five firefighters, said FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh. Two tenants of the building at 429 E. 52nd St. had life-threatening injuries.
Two dozen residents escaped to the roof of the smoke-filled building, between First Ave. and Sutton Place — and ended up stranded there, as firefighters battled the blaze 17 stories below, on the building’s 20th floor.
The fire broke out when a lithium-ion battery attached to an e-bike exploded by the front door of a 20th-floor apartment, said FDNY Chief Fire Marshall Daniel Flynn.
Two tenants unable to escape by the front door — their only way out of the apartment — instead tried to go out a window.
Video posted to Twitter showed a woman hanging from a window ledge of the apartment as the blaze raged inside. Her left arm was wrapped in a drape, said witness Ken Gunsberger.