Toronto Fire responds to as many as 4 lithium-ion fires in the city in the past 36 hours

Toronto fire crews have responded to four lithium-ion fires in the city over the past 36 hours, with the latest a three-alarm blaze Wednesday afternoon at a North York home.

Firefighters were dispatched to a home on Anthony Road near Wilson Avenue and Dufferin Street around 3:15 p.m. , where they were met with thick, black smoke and flames coming from a garage. The fire was eventually brought under control and one person was assessed by paramedics at the scene but was not transported to the hospital.

“The fire had jumped from the roof [of the garage] to the house, and got into the attic of the house. Eventually the roof of the garage collapsed …and the fire was knocked down,” said Platoon Chief Brent Barton, who added that early indications are the fire was started by a bunch of batteries that had been sitting in a bag in the garage.

Just before 6 a.m. Wednesday, firefighters were called to another two-alarm fire on the fourth-floor unit of Toronto Community Housing building on George Street near Dundas Street East. Officials say lithium-ion batteries were involved, but it’s unclear what they were being used for.

Paramedics transported two people to hospital and one person went on their own.

“Earlier [Wednesday] morning, we had another fire caused by lithium-ion batteries going into thermal runaway. A number of individuals were injured, transported and assessed for smoke inhalation and burns,” Fire Chief Jim Jessop said, adding that their injuries were not life-threatening.

With respect to the lithium-ion batteries firefighters found at the scene, Jessop said, “they absolutely were the result of the fire.”

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Fires involving lithium‑ion batteries have been a growing problem in the city and Jessop reiterated his concerns on Wednesday.

“This is just another example of what we have been advising the public and advising government is the fastest growing fire safety risk in Canada’s largest city,” Jessop said.

He said firefighters responded to several incidents in the last 24 hours, one of them being the recent one on Wednesday.

“We had a house sustain heavy fire damage in Scarborough yesterday [Tuesday] that’s been attributed to starting from lithium-ion batteries charging. We had another one out in Etobicoke in the middle of the night,” Jessop said.

No injuries were reported in the other two fires.

“The Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) continues to closely monitor lithium-ion battery-related fires and is engaged with our partners in fire safety on how to mitigate risk. Potential changes to the Ontario Fire Code will be explored through the OFM’s recently established Rechargeable Battery Safety and Technology Technical Advisory Committee (TAC),” a spokesperson for Ontario’s Solicitor General said in a statement to CityNews.

“We also continue to call on the federal government to improve importing regulations and the oversight of these batteries entering the country.”

Last week, Toronto Fire said it had responded to 76 lithium-ion battery incidents so far this year, leading to two fatalities and 14 injuries.

A two‑alarm fire broke out in a unit inside a city‑run shelter operating out of a former hotel in Etobicoke last week. Firefighters located burned lithium‑ion batteries inside the affected unit.

That same week, Toronto Fire said compromised e‑bike batteries contributed to an apartment fire in St. James Town that injured four people, including two children.

“Well over 200 per cent increase in the past several years. This just speaks to the fact that we absolutely need both the federal and the provincial governments to work with the City of Toronto collaboratively on moving forward with regulatory changes,” Jessop said, adding that he is not calling for a ban.

“We know they’re not going to go away, and we’re not calling for any type of ban because we know it’s part of the new economy. We don’t want any unintended impacts, financial hardships on individuals.”

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What is thermal runaway?

Jessop said fires stemming from lithium-ion batteries accelerate quickly due to a chemical chain reaction.

“Once the chemical chain reaction starts that results in the fire, it does not stop. What it does with these batteries it is accelerated so quickly … we have seen lithium-ion batteries and e-bike batteries attached to them explode, go into thermal runaway and within 90 seconds the unit or room of origin is in flashover. That used to be five minutes 10 years ago. The survivability time for people to get safely out has decreased, as well as the increased risk to the responding firefighters, paramedics and police officers.”

Jessop said thermal runaway can also happen weeks later, even after the batteries are safely stored.

“We’ve also seen thermal runaway start six weeks after we have had batteries safely stored outside buildings, and they have reignited, so this is the greatest evolving fire safety risk in Toronto,” he said.

Jessop said unregulated batteries are primarily at the centre of such fires.

“The overwhelming majority of the investigations have concluded they’re the unregulated and uncertified batteries that we see on these micromobility devices. Not to say we’ve not had the odd fire started by a drill battery or a cellphone or computer battery, but those numbers pale in comparison to what we have seen in micromobility devices and that is primarily because there is no standard in Canada to which these batteries have to meet.”

With files from Afua Baah and Lucas Casaletto, CityNews