With four months to go until the end of 2026, Toronto has already surpassed the annual record for lithium-ion battery fires.
According to Toronto Fire Services, there were 91 incidents in all of 2025 — an all-time high at the time.
So far this year, the number of incidents is 97, which represents a more than 200 per cent increase compared to four years ago, when the fire service started tracking them.
Toronto Fire says there have been 14 injuries associated with the 2026 incidents.
“It’s certainly not surprising, given the tremendous amount of increasing usage of lithium-ion batteries,” said Paul Boissonneault, secretary with the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs and Fire Chief in Oakville.
The issue made major headlines last month when four fires broke out in connection to the batteries in the span of about 24 hours. Then, this past weekend, two more fires were reported, both linked to e-bike batteries.
Lithium-ion batteries keep catching fire in Toronto. Here’s why they are so dangerous
Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries have been used in devices like laptops, power tools and cell phones since the 2000s, but reached a new level of mass production in the late 2010s for micromobility devices like e-bikes and e-scooters.
Toronto Fire says it’s the batteries in e-bikes and scooters, especially when overcharged, modified or damaged, that has led to the rapid increase in such fires.
Fires stemming from the batteries pose a number of challenges for emergency responders, explained Toronto Fire Chief Jim Jessop in an interview with CBC Toronto in August.
The resulting blazes move faster than typical fires, the batteries can explode and become projectiles, and toxic chemicals inside leave carcinogens on gear that require a special decontamination process, he said.
Jessop has said that he doesn’t want to see an outright ban on the batteries, but that better regulations around battery storage and safety from the province and federal government are needed.
That’s in step with what Boissoneault and the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFS) has been advocating for.
CAFS has been working with Health Canada on proposed regulations for the batteries, and advocating for tighter controls on imports.
“When you’re seeing some of the products that are coming from offshore that don’t have …safety ratings, it does [give] significant pause or cause for concern,” said Boissonneault.
CAFS is also looking ahead to planned updates to the national building and fire codes scheduled for 2030, which Boissonneault says will make for a “standardized and harmonized” national approach to making the batteries safer.
Toronto’s fire chief warns of surge in fires involving lithium-ion batteries
Last month, the Ontario fire marshal also told CBC Toronto it’s considering changes to the province’s fire code to reflect the rise in lithium-ion battery fire risks.
To prevent a lithium-ion fire, Toronto Fire says people should only use devices that have been safety-tested and certified, follow manufacturer instructions for charging and storage, and store batteries away from any flammable materials.
