Across the province, and across the nation, fire departments are sounding the alarm on a new and dangerous phenomenon—electric vehicle battery fires. While there are no nationwide statistics or data on the actual number of such fires taking place, there is plenty to garner from information coming from major cities which do.
Toronto, for instance, saw 76 lithium-ion battery fires in 2024, a whopping 38 percent increase from 2023. Montreal reported 71 fires, while British Columbia documented 70 rechargeable battery fires in the province in 2024, resulting in four injuries and $3.4 million in damages—and by all accounts those numbers are also rising.
Now many of those fires were from smaller vehicles, e-bikes and e-scooters, still the data is a bit unnerving. The rising popularity of lithium-ion battery-powered vehicles and devices is not likely to abate any time soon, despite the antipathetic focus of the current president of the United States. They are simply the best suited to providing the power bang for the buck in this technology-obsessed world—powering not only vehicles both big and small, but also the ubiquitous cellphones, laptops, tablets and watches that today’s consumer can’t seem to get enough of.
The Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs has warned that lithium-ion battery fires are on the rise across the country, again with the surge being largely attributed to the increasing popularity of micro-mobility devices like e-bikes and e-scooters.
Even fire departments in large urban centres are finding it difficult to meet the challenge of dealing with lithium-ion battery fires due, in part, to a lack of specialized equipment and training in how to tackle such fires.
Vehicle fires are quite spectacular, meaning they are likely to fill your social media feed on any given day, but even the smaller, less “newsworthy” or viral meme fires are very dangerous to those within breathing range—especially due to the release of the chemical hydrogen fluoride and its analogs.
It has been well documented that lithium-ion batteries deliver a host of lethal and carcinogenic chemicals in their fumes when they burn, and such fires are becoming all too common—which leads to the question, is enough being done to ensure these items are safe.
We apparently have the technology to ensure that nuclear fuel can be safely transported on our highways and byways—albeit that is not a universally held truth. So why is it we cannot seem to build a battery that does not catch fire?
Moreover, the load of small batteries going into our landfills should be a cause for concern to everyone, given the lack of clear and present recycling and safe disposal options.
Sadly, there seems to be little expertise in the current government when it comes to crafting or maintaining recycling programs—witness the unfolding debacle that is the crescendo of Beer Store closures across the province, taking along with it the most successful recycling program in the province. Whither go our empties now?
But we digress.
The issue of lithium-ion batteries, their safety, their disposal and recycling is an issue that is not going away any time soon and is quite clearly only going to accelerate exponentially in the coming years.
There is a need for a much greater focus on public education when it comes to these small and potentially dangerous portable power sources and a provincially mandated and funded recycling program should and must be put into place—much sooner than later—for all our sakes and those who come after.
If there is a lesson to be learned from Indigenous knowledge, culture and traditions it is that we must think seven generations ahead when we make policy decisions and not simply for the next electoral or business cycle.
