The holiday rush at a Queens pizza counter turned into a nightmare when an e-bike battery suddenly erupted, killing a grandmother and ripping through the small shop with a wall of flame. What should have been a routine Fourth of July slice run ended with a 76-year-old woman trapped in a bathroom as the fire spread faster than anyone inside could react. Her death has become a grim warning about how everyday devices powered by lithium-ion batteries can turn deadly in seconds.
The woman, identified as Yuet Kiu Cheung, had gone out for pizza with family and never made it home. Fire officials say the battery behaved less like a simple electrical failure and more like a blowtorch, instantly filling the restaurant with heat and smoke. In a city that has embraced e-bikes and scooters as part of daily life, her story is now at the center of a growing debate over how safe these batteries really are and what it will take to keep them from exploding in crowded spaces.
The quiet pizza stop that turned into a disaster
The pizzeria in Flushing was the kind of neighborhood spot people duck into without thinking twice, a place where regulars know the menu by heart and kids lean on the glass to pick out slices. On the afternoon of the fire, customers were lined up near the counter while delivery workers moved in and out with their bikes, a familiar scene in this busy corner of Queens. The shop sits in a dense commercial strip that has become a hub for small businesses and restaurants, a cluster that shows up clearly on local maps as part of the neighborhood’s crowded food corridor.
Into that everyday setting walked 76-year-old Yuet Kiu Cheung, a grandmother who had come in with family members for a simple meal. Witnesses later described how quickly the mood shifted from casual chatter to chaos once the e-bike battery failed. In a matter of moments, the cozy shop that usually smelled like melted cheese and tomato sauce was filled instead with acrid smoke and searing heat, turning a familiar hangout into a deadly trap for the oldest person in the room.
How the e-bike battery turned into a blowtorch
Investigators say the chain of events started with a lithium-ion power pack that was either being charged or stored near the front of the restaurant, close to where delivery bikes were kept. When it failed, it did not behave like a slow-burning electrical fire. Instead, the battery went into what experts call thermal runaway, a rapid reaction that can cause cells to vent hot gases and flames in a violent burst. Fire officials later described the device as acting like a blowtorch, a description echoed in accounts that said the flames shot across the floor and up the walls before anyone had time to process what was happening, killing the Grandma 76 who had been inside.
The explosion did not come with a long warning period, according to fire marshals who later examined the scene. One moment the battery was just another piece of gear in a busy shop, and the next it had turned into a concentrated jet of fire that raced through the narrow interior. That sudden shift is exactly what makes these incidents so dangerous in tight spaces like restaurants, where people have limited exits and little time to react once a device fails. In this case, the battery’s violent ignition cut off escape routes almost instantly, leaving the most vulnerable customer with nowhere safe to go.
Inside the frantic minutes as the fire spread
Once the battery ignited, the fire moved with a speed that stunned both witnesses and first responders. Customers near the front bolted for the door as flames rolled across the floor and thick smoke pushed toward the ceiling. In the back, Yuet Kiu Cheung had gone into the restroom, a small room with a single inward-opening door and no other way out. By the time she tried to escape, the corridor outside was already choked with heat and smoke, and the path to the front of the shop was blocked by the burning e-bike and debris from the blast, according to fire officials.
Firefighters arrived to find a two-alarm blaze ripping through the restaurant, with flames already pushing toward the roof and smoke pouring into the street. Crews forced their way inside, battling intense heat to reach the back of the shop where they believed someone was trapped. By the time they got to the bathroom, the 76-year-old woman had suffered catastrophic burns and could not be saved. The scene left even seasoned responders shaken, not just by the loss of life but by how little time anyone inside had to react once the battery failed.
FDNY’s stark warning about lithium-ion batteries
For the Fire Department of the City of New York, this was not just another structure fire, it was a deadly example of a pattern they have been trying to warn the public about. The department has been increasingly vocal about the risks posed by lithium-ion devices, using its official channels to explain how a LITHIUM ION BATTERY without warning and turn a small room into a death trap. In the wake of the pizzeria fire, the department highlighted that the victim was a 76-year-old woman who had no way to anticipate that a delivery bike’s power pack would suddenly erupt just a few feet away.
FDNY leaders have been blunt about the stakes, using their main site to push safety campaigns, inspection updates, and public alerts about these devices. On its official FDNY page, the department has laid out guidance on safe charging, storage, and disposal of e-bike batteries, stressing that uncertified or damaged packs are especially risky. The message is simple but urgent: in a city packed with apartments, restaurants, and storefronts, one faulty battery can put dozens of people in danger long before firefighters can get to the scene.
What Commissioner Robert Tucker says about these fires
FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker has become one of the most visible voices on this issue, and his description of what happened in the Queens pizzeria pulls no punches. Speaking after the fire, he called these incidents “very treacherous,” stressing that “They move very quickly and they are very hot,” a warning that captures exactly what unfolded in the restaurant when the e-bike battery failed. His comments, shared through move very quickly, underline how little margin for error there is once a lithium-ion pack starts to burn.
In a separate briefing, Commissioner Robert S. Tucker walked through the timeline of the two-alarm fire, explaining how crews were dispatched to a pizza restaurant in Queens and found a rapidly advancing blaze that had already trapped a customer. His update, shared by the city on a page where readers are told to Try watching the video, made it clear that even a fast response could not overcome the speed of the battery-driven flames. For Tucker, the lesson is not just about firefighting tactics but about preventing these devices from failing in crowded public spaces in the first place.
NYC’s first battery fire death of the year and why it matters
The loss of Yuet Kiu Cheung was not only a personal tragedy for her family, it also marked a grim milestone for the city. Fire officials identified her as NYC’s first lithium-ion battery fire fatality of 2025, a label that underscores how these incidents have shifted from rare anomalies to a recurring threat. Coverage of the Flushing blaze noted that the two-alarm fire erupted inside a neighborhood pizzeria and that the Grandmother is NYC’s such victim of the year, a detail that has stuck with residents who rely on e-bikes for work and errands.
That status as the first recorded battery-related death of the year is not just a statistic, it is a warning sign about where the trend line is heading. Earlier incidents had already damaged apartments and injured riders, but this case, involving a 76-year-old woman in a public restaurant, pushed the conversation into a different register. It raised uncomfortable questions about how many uncertified or poorly maintained batteries are circulating through the city’s delivery economy and how many other crowded spaces might be one failure away from a similar disaster, concerns that were echoed in reports that described the victim as a 76-year-old trapped by a sudden wall of flame.
The human toll on a family and a neighborhood
Behind the statistics and safety warnings is a family that watched a routine outing turn into a permanent loss. Relatives described Yuet Kiu Cheung as a devoted grandmother who was still active and independent at 76, someone who enjoyed simple pleasures like sharing a meal with loved ones. One of her sons later recounted finding her body and likened her burns to being “like a roast pig,” a raw and painful image that captured the brutality of the fire and the helplessness they felt in the aftermath, as reported in accounts of the Grandma 76 who died in the blast.
For the neighborhood, the fire left a scar that goes beyond the charred storefront. Regulars who once treated the pizzeria as a casual hangout now walk past a boarded-up space that reminds them how quickly things went wrong. Delivery workers who used to park their bikes inside or just outside the shop have been forced to rethink where and how they charge their batteries, while nearby business owners quietly worry that a similar incident could happen in their own cramped interiors. The story of one grandmother’s death has become a shared cautionary tale in Flushing, a reminder that the conveniences of modern city life can carry hidden costs.
What investigators say actually caused the blaze
Fire Marshals assigned to the case zeroed in on the e-bike almost immediately, tracing the origin of the flames to the area where the bike and its power pack had been kept. Their findings, shared in a department update that began with the phrase On July 4th, confirmed that the two-alarm fire at the Queens pizzeria was caused by a lithium-ion battery. The marshals concluded that the battery had either been damaged or was not functioning properly, and that once it went into failure, it produced a rapid, high-heat fire that spread across the restaurant before staff or customers could intervene.
The department later amplified that message through social media, warning that a 76-year-old woman had been trapped in the bathroom after the battery exploded without warning. That detail, that she was caught in a small, windowless room with no alternate exit, underscored how unforgiving these fires can be once they start. For investigators, the takeaway was clear: any space that allows e-bikes or scooters inside, especially near exits or narrow hallways, is taking on a level of risk that many owners and customers may not fully understand.
Why this one fire is a wake-up call for the whole city
As tragic as it is, the death of Yuet Kiu Cheung has become a reference point in a much larger conversation about how New York handles the explosion of battery-powered mobility. City leaders and safety advocates have been pushing for stricter rules on which batteries can be sold, how they are certified, and where they can be charged, arguing that the current patchwork of practices leaves too many gaps. The Flushing pizzeria fire, which claimed the life of a Grandma who had simply gone out for pizza, has become a vivid example used in those debates.
For everyday New Yorkers, the lesson lands closer to home. The same kind of battery that powers a delivery worker’s e-bike might be sitting in a hallway, under a desk, or next to a couch in a small apartment. The fire that tore through the Queens restaurant shows how quickly things can go wrong when those devices fail in tight, crowded spaces. It is a reminder that safety is not just about what firefighters do after a call comes in, but about the choices building owners, business operators, and individual riders make long before a battery ever has a chance to ignite.
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