27-year-old journalist who died in Harlem fire remembered as generous, gifted colleague

A fire in Harlem on Friday that the FDNY said was caused by a lithium-ion battery claimed the life of a 27-year-old journalist whose colleagues described him as generous, gifted and committed to telling stories about New Yorkers.

Police confirmed Fazil Khan died from the intense blaze that broke out around 2:15 p.m. Friday in his six-story building near St. Nicholas Place and West 149th Street. Another 17 people were injured, some critically, according to FDNY officials.

Fire marshals said on Saturday that the fire was caused by a lithium-ion battery, though they did not offer additional details. Khan’s death marks New York City’s first lithium ion-related fatality of 2024, according to the FDNY, which has repeatedly warned of a surge in battery fires.

Khan, who came to New York from India to get a master’s degree in journalism at Columbia University, most recently worked as a data journalist at the Hechinger Report, an outlet focused on education. Over the weekend, his friends, colleagues and former teachers paid tribute to him in an outpouring on social media.

“Fazil was a treasure,” Hechinger’s deputy managing editor Christina Samuels wrote on X. “Funny, kind, and not at all impatient with our off-beat requests and ideas (and we had plenty of those...) We will all miss him so much.”

Liz Donovan, a journalist who collaborated with Khan on an investigative project about a lack of mental health support for children whose parents died from COVID-19, recalled Khan’s “sensitive spirit and brilliant mind.”

“This all feels so deeply unfair and I can only imagine the amount of impact his work and friendships could have had with the many more years he deserved,” she wrote in a Facebook post.

Khan moved from New Delhi in the fall of 2020 and graduated from Columbia with a master’s degree in data journalism the following year, according to his LinkedIn profile. He had previously worked at media outlets in India.

After graduate school, he earned one of Columbia’s prestigious investigative fellowships, supporting his work on the COVID project. In 2022, he joined Hechinger, where his most recent project was a “college welcome guide” meant to help prospective students gauge how receptive different schools were to candidates from diverse backgrounds.

“We are devastated by the loss of such a great colleague and wonderful person, and our hearts go out to his family,” Hechinger posted on X. “He will be dearly missed.”

By Monday morning, an online fundraiser for Khan had received more than $11,000 in commitments that organizers said would help support his family and funeral costs back home. The money would also support several causes he cared about deeply, including the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and Islamic life centers in New York City, according to the fundraiser.

Saddened to learn about death of 27 years old Indian national Mr. Fazil Khan in an unfortunate fire incident in an apartment building in Harlem, NY. @IndiainNewYork is in touch with late Mr. Fazil Khan’s family & friends.
We continue to extend all possible assistance in…

— India in New York (@IndiainNewYork) February 25, 2024

When we were at @columbiajourn, @merefazildost hosted a ton of students to break fast for Eid. I showed up randomly. I didn't know him well, aside from pick-up soccer and friends who knew and loved him. But he fed us all. A brilliant journalist and amazing human. https://t.co/oWQm9cZ8XF

— Eduardo Cuevas (@eduardomcuevas) February 24, 2024

Earlier this month, FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said lithium-ion batteries, which are often used to power electric bikes and scooters, are now a leading cause of fires and fire-related deaths in the city.

Eighteen New Yorkers died in battery-related fires last year, and another 150 were injured, according to the department. That was up from six deaths and 147 injuries in 2022 and four deaths and 79 injuries in 2021.

Over the past few years, fire officials have continually emphasized the potential dangers of unregulated or refurbished lithium-ion batteries. If overheated, the batteries can explode and spark fires that burn and spread rapidly and can be very hard to extinguish.

The Harlem fire that killed Khan and injured more than a dozen others was so powerful that it trapped people floors above where it started, FDNY Chief John Hodgens said on Friday. “One of the victims basically had to jump out of the window,” he told reporters at the scene. “They were in the alley on the side of the building when we arrived.”

In a tribute included in a story by immigration news outlet Documented, Khan’s sister Tanuja Khan lamented that the prominence her brother always wanted for his work has sadly come as a result of his untimely death.

“I know he’s listening to all of us, I just want to say to him that: ‘Bhai you want to be known worldwide, see everyone in the world is talking about you,” she wrote. “And we also understand it for you, because you deserve every bit of it. But not like this.’”

This is a developing story and may be updated.