A room burnt beyond recognition in minutes. An e-bike launching battery parts into the air. With fires involving lithium-ion batteries on track to reach a record high this year, Toronto’s fire chief is calling for action.
Last Wednesday, Toronto fire responded to two fires linked to lithium-ion batteries: a 2-alarm blaze at a downtown apartment unit that sent one person to hospital and, hours later, a North York garage fire where one person was treated for smoke inhalation.
It’s a type of fire that has been trending upwards at a record pace: so far this year, Toronto has seen 85 lithium-ion battery fires, a 40 per cent increase compared to the same time frame in 2025. Mississauga fire recorded a 122 per cent increase in lithium-ion battery incidents in 2025 compared to the year before, and has responded to 15 fires this year. They often result in serious injuries.
“It is the fastest-evolving public fire safety risk in Canada’s largest city,” Toronto fire Chief Jim Jessop told the Star in an interview Tuesday.
Exponential growth in lithium-ion battery fires
In 2025, Toronto saw 91 fires related to lithium-ion batteries, according to data from Toronto fire, the highest one-year total.
The number of annual incidents has increased tenfold since the start of records in 2021, when nine fires were logged, a trend that Jessop sees continuing.
Fires involving the batteries have also changed the calculations for firefighters: responders in the ‘60s had around 20 minutes before a room went into flashover, a state where all materials start to combust, while the time in the last 10 years has been cut to five minutes due to the rise of synthetic materials like plastic.
“Now, we’ve seen that once the batteries go into thermal runaway, the unit or room of origin will reach flashover in about 90 seconds,” Jessop explained.
Fires involving lithium-ion batteries
Toronto fire has responded to 85 blazes involving lithium-ion batteries, a figure on track to eclipse the total number of incidents in 2025.
With four months left in the year, Toronto appears to be on track to hit or exceed last year’s record of 91 lithium-ion battery fires.
The fires have increased the amount of toxic gases firefighters encounter and heightened safety risks during operations, with batteries sometimes exploding while search operations are underway, according to Jessop.
“We treat them very similarly to propane tanks; our time is very limited,” Jessop said.
The service has had to make “significant investments” into modernizing their decontamination protocols to remove carcinogens and metals released by batteries.
What causes the fires?
Lithium-ion batteries are ubiquitous in everyday objects, from phones to electric toothbrushes and laptops. The main concern for fire services, however, is the batteries in vehicles like e-scooters and e-bikes, which have sparked the majority of related fires.
Overcharging, improper storage, disposal and tampering can cause the batteries to catch fire or explode and go into thermal runaway, according to Toronto fire.
“We’ve certainly had the odd cellphone or drill battery catch fire, but that is the exception … well north of 80 per cent of the lithium-ion battery fires that we’ve seen in Toronto involve micromobility devices,” Jessop said.
The service recommends only buying devices with batteries approved by manufacturers that are certified through external testing, like those marked with certification labels listed here.
More regulation needed, chief says
While manufacturers can pay to have their batteries tested with external laboratories, Canada currently does not have any regulatory requirements that apply to lithium-ion batteries, a reason why the risk is concentrated in micromobility devices, according to Jessop.
“There is no magic bullet, there is no easy solution to this,” he said.
”[Regulation] is the only way we are going to reduce both the probability and the consequence of these fires,” Jessop said, adding that the fire service is in active conversation with the provincial and federal levels of government.
Earlier in the year, Health Canada collected responses on potential new regulations for lithium-ion batteries.
The agency, which said there is “clear evidence” that uncertified, poorly designed or improperly manufactured batteries pose significantly higher fire risks, is currently looking into proposing new regulations for the batteries.
Warning signs to look for
Many of the lithium-ion battery fires seen in Toronto can be prevented by taking proper care of batteries, according to Jessop.
“Don’t tamper or try to alter your batteries to get a longer charge,” he said. Batteries should also only be used with chargers designated and approved by their manufacturer.
“If you see your battery starting to smoke, the first sign that it’s going into thermal runaway, immediately grab your loved ones, leave your house or apartment and close the door, and call 911 … we know you will have less than two minutes before it goes into full thermal runaway,” Jessop said.