NEW YORK — The Queens day care where 18 children were injured after a fire broke out due to a faulty lithium-ion battery was unlicensed and illegally running out of a basement, the New York Daily News has learned.
The fire started in the basement of the two-story home on 72nd Drive near 147th Street in Kew Gardens Hills around 2:05 p.m., FDNY officials said.
Both the day care and a dentist lab were operating in the basement, which had been converted without a Department of Buildings work permit, the DOB said.
The blaze spread through the cellar of the single-family home when a charging e-bike exploded, sources said.
When firefighters arrived, five adults, one teenager and 19 children ranging from 16 months to 5 years old were inside, the sources added.
A 16-month-old toddler was critically injured in the fire. The other kids did not require treatment, FDNY officials and sources said.
The injured boy suffered smoke inhalation and was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Queens Hospital, where he was listed in serious but stable condition in the hospital’s intensive care unit Thursday, sources said.
The child care center is unlicensed, the New York State Office of Children and Family Services told the Daily News.
“The agency is conducting a thorough review to determine if it was, in fact, operating illegally,” an OCFS spokesperson said in a statement.
A child care license is required by the state if a person or program is caring for more than two children who are not related to them, away from the child’s home and on a regular basis for three or more hours per day.
Officials are still investigating whether the 18 children in the house were related to the home owner operating the day care.
The DOB issued the owner two violations for illegal construction work to the basement and for operating businesses out of the space. City records had listed the basement as a storage area, the agency said.
A neighbor who has lived on the block for about over a decade said he spotted parents dropping their kids off at the child care center every morning.
“I’m pretty upset that they’d be running that kind of thing,” said Benny Taubenfeld. “I mean, it could have been a lot worse than it was. I hope the one child will be OK.”
Another neighbor brushed off the licensing and building code issues.
“People do what they can do. It’s cheaper,” said the man, who declined to give his name. “Everybody in the city is doing stuff like this in their house.
“She’s a wonderful woman, very nice,” he said of the owner. “What’s the difference if she’s licensed?”
A full vacate order was issued for the building.
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