Toronto Fire Services is once again raising the alarm after they say lithium-ion batteries caused a blaze at a city-run shelter.
Crews were called to the scene of a two-alarm fire at a highrise at 2180 Islington Ave. around 5:35 a.m. Wednesday morning to reports of black smoke. The building was a former hotel converted into a city-run shelter.
“Arriving crews did encounter smoke and, along with the building’s sprinkler system, put the fire out on the seventh floor,” said north command platoon chief Peter Rappos.
Chief Jim Jessop later confirmed to Global News that the fire was the “direct result” of lithium-ion batteries.
No injuries were reported from the fire.
“Toronto Fire has seen an over 200 per cent increase since 2022 in the number of lithium-ion battery fires in the City of Toronto,” Jessop said in an interview Wednesday. “I have stated publicly that this is the greatest growing public fire safety concern in Toronto.”
An investigation is ongoing and Rappos told Global News the unit will be “out of service” for some time. Part of the seventh floor has also been evacuated, but he stressed there will be no displaced residents as there are spare units in the building to accommodate residents.
Lithium-ion batteries, which are used to power a wide range of items such as smartphones, e-bikes and electric toothbrushes, have been behind several fires this year.
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One day earlier, four people, including two children, were sent to hospital Tuesday after a two-alarm fire broke out at a separate highrise at Ontario Street and St. James Avenue.
According to division commander John Carson, batteries and e-bikes were found on the balcony of the unit and a couple of batteries were found inside the unit during that investigation.
“The batteries were compromised inside and then outside. It certainly would have contributed to the intense burn,” Carson said.
Jessop also noted a separate incident a few weeks prior in which he said e-bikes created dangerous conditions for firefighters.
“As firefighters were scaling the ladders to try and affect rescues off of the balconies, a number of e-bikes actually burst into flames and started to explode as firefighters were crawling across,” he said.
He said after extinguishing the flames, firefighters counted more than a dozen ebikes, chargers and batteries in a single unit.
Rappos said Wednesday that Toronto Fire Services has responded to 76 lithium-ion battery incidents to date, an increase of 35 per cent compared to this time last year. There have been a total of 14 injuries and two deaths from the incidents this year.
When the batteries heat up, some can enter what the UL Research Institutes call a “thermal runaway,” an uncontrollable, self-heating state that can lead to combustion.
But previous fires involving the batteries have often involved users of the devices that utilize the batteries not buying compatible parts, overcharging the device or using chargers that may not be recommended by the manufacturers.
“They’re not required to meet any federal standard and the results speak for themselves,” Jessop said.
The batteries are generally safe, but can become dangerous if damaged, tampered with or improperly charged. Things to look out for include an unusual, almost plastic odour, smoke coming from the device and the item beginning to heat up to an “extreme” degree.
If you smell such an odour, Jessop stressed the importance of leaving the location and waiting for fire crews to arrive, noting they have expert and hazardous material teams that can remove the batteries safely. He added to safely dispose of the battery if it is damaged.
“Given the speed at which these will ignite, you will not have time to safely escape your unit of origin if it goes into thermal runaway and bursts into flames,” he said.
So, toxic and what we make car batteries out of ’cause – we don’t want to poison the Earth. That would be ‘effing silliness, clearly.