Toronto Fire Chief Jim Jessop has long been warning the public about fire risks from lithium-ion batteries, and on Wednesday, he tallied more evidence in his crusade for increased regulations after a shed fire in High Park.
Toronto Fire crews doused an engulfed laneway shed that Jessop said was caused by the batteries.
He posted a photo of the charred remains of several e-bikes that were inside the shed at a home near Roncesvalles Avenue and The Queensway.
“Another lithium-ion battery fire in the city this afternoon, this incident involving e-bikes in a shed,” Jessop wrote in a social media post. “Lithium-ion battery safety matters. The increasing frequency and severity of these fires continues to be a serious public safety concern across our city.”
Toronto Fire said Wednesday’s blaze was contained to the shed and didn’t result in any injuries, but Jessop said it’s further proof that stricter regulations need to be put in place.
This fire comes after two separate blazes ignited this week at a recycling yard in North York, while another fire occurred on the balcony of a highrise in Cabbagetown in April.
“This is, and I will say again, is the fastest growing public fire safety risk in the City of Toronto. As of today, we are at 47 fires caused by lithium-ion batteries in the city this year, which is a 50 per cent increase than the same number at this time last year,” Jessop said.
Jessop said the majority of these fires are related to e-bikes and e-scooters, and currently, the batteries for these electric mobility devices are not regulated.
“The reason why our laptops and our cellphones are not going into thermal runaway 47 times this year in the City of Toronto is those batteries meet a standard,” he said.
Jessop said thermal runaway is when a chemical chain reaction starts inside the battery and doesn’t stop.
“We’ve actually had fire scenes where these batteries have reignited as long as six to eight weeks after the fire had been extinguished, and this is causing significant issues,” he said.
Jessop said these fires are toxic, extremely hot, and challenging to douse. It often takes four to six times the amount of water used in regular fires to control the flames, and they now have specially trained hazmat teams to safely move the batteries from fire scenes.
It was three years ago when an e-bike battery ignited on board a subway car, triggering the City to ban the devices on the TTC during the winter months.
Since then, Jessop has been pushing the federal and provincial governments for more battery regulations and changes to the fire code.
“Should, for example, there be a limit in the number of these devices that are stored in residential high-rise buildings? Should they require separate storage facilities that are fire-rated? So, these are the real changes that are gonna help the City of Toronto and all cities within Ontario, deal with this growing issue.”