“Today at 10:24 a.m. we got calls for fire at 429 East 52nd Street on the 20th floor. Fire, EMS and dispatch did an extraordinary job rescuing a number of civilians, including an incredible roof rope rescue on the 20th floor. The total patient count as of right now is 38, two critical, five serious and the rest minor. The cause of the fire is a lithium ion battery connected to a micro mobility device. I cannot emphasize enough the extraordinary work of our members this morning in unbelievably dangerous conditions,” said FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh from the scene of this morning’s 3-alarm fire at 429 East 52nd Street in Manhattan.

FDNY Deputy Assistant Chief Frank Leeb said, “Our units were on scene In just over three minutes and were confronted with a heavy fire condition on the 20th floor. Our members did an amazing job, we saw the life saving rope rescue, that is a last resort in the FDNY, we were able to rescue two civilians from the fire apartment. What we saw today was our training, our teamwork and our absolute dedication from the units that operated up there with the life saving rope and then passing them off to our exceptionally trained EMS members to get these patients off the scene and to local hospitals in a matter of minutes.”