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In Vancouver, the  that battery fires have continued to trend upward over the past three years, with a year-over-year average increase of 20 per cent (20 per cent more fires caused from batteries, including nickel cadmium and nickel-metal hydride batteries). In December last year, such a battery exploded in a , after being used in an airsoft gun.

In Surrey in 2025 so far, there have been eight fires caused by lithium ion batteries and micro mobility devices, compared to seven such fires in all of 2024, and 10 in 2023; 2023 was the first year the B.C. Public Safety Ministry added a new reporting code for fires related to rechargeable batteries.

Thomas said of the city's eight battery-caused fires so far in 2025, five of the fires involved e-scooters, or e-bikes, also known as micro mobility devices.

"Typically the cause in those cases is, someone has either modified the charger, or is using an after-market charger, or modified the power profile where they actually put the batteries in serial instead of parallel to get more power out of them," Thomas said.

"What happens with that — if you see a scooter going twice as fast as other scooters, that (is likely) a modified scooter. When they modify the power, they do get more power out of it, but what happens is the batteries discharge at a way faster rate, faster than they were designed to dissipate the heat that builds up when they’re discharging, and that’s what creates the problem."

The issue isn't usually when people are using the devices, Thomas noted.

"It’s not necessarily while they’re using it, but (when) they quit using it and put it down, and maybe plug it in and it’s already super heated, and they’re adding more power to it ."

Often, there may be damage to the battery or battery chamber that is not visible or even known to the owner, he continued.

"There’s a new term that we’re hearing about called battery concussion, like if you drop your laptop or your phone or your scooter or e-bike, the batteries could get a bruise that you don’t necessarily know about, and over time, that bruise will turn into a hemorrhage, or what they call thermal runaway."

Two of 2025's fires were from phones or laptop devices while they were charging, Thomas said, noting that if the battery in such devices is old or damaged, the device can get quite hot when it's charging.

"If you put a laptop on a combustible surface like your bedding, where there’s no air flowing around to cool it, (that) can create a fire," said Thomas. 

Improperly installed, after-market chargers are risky

The eighth such fire this year was linked not to an electric vehicle, but to the wall charger for the EV.

"One fire (was) where someone self-installed a wall charger for their EV in a garage ... it’s hard to prove anything, but we suspect the wiring wasn’t done with permits or by an electrician ... the challenge always is, if you’re not using the original equipment, the manufacturers’ equipment, the chargers that were designed and tested — whether it’s a vehicle, a scooter, a bike, a laptop, or a phone — you run the risk of either over-charging the product, and if you’re over-charging, that does just as much damage — it starts to harm those batteries," he explained. 

With EVs, Thomas said a typical mistake is for drivers to get a fast charger for their electric vehicle without doing their homework. 

"You get a fast charger for your EV, but your house power does not have enough amperage ... so that fast charger is pumping a ton of power into your car to fast-charge it, but all your circuits from your panel to that charger are overheating — like a light bulb — because your house and panel wasn’t designed for it," he said, advising EV owners to get charging systems installed by certified electricians who get permits that get inspected.

The educational piece on the issue is to "only use original equipment manufactured for the device," Thomas said. 

He pointed to the , a North American agency on fire safety standards, noting their advice this summer is for firefighters to educate people to "only charge their lithium products while they’re awake or at home, so they can intervene if there’s a fire."

The NFPA says many of such fires are occurring across the continent because people will plug in their device and go to bed, "and then if there is a bruise or a short or something that puts it into runaway, no one’s there to detect it," said Thomas. "Even if you have smoke alarms, when these things go into thermal runway, they are so quick, there’s no time to react ... it goes from 0 to 600 degrees within a few seconds."

Thomas also pointed out how toxic the batteries can be.  

"With these things — they just start to off-gas, and what people might not know is, the gas that comes off the lithium that’s starting to go into thermal runaway is super, super, super toxic, so if you’re charging a scooter in the house or your e-bike in the house and it starts to off-gas, there’s a chance that the gas is going to kill you before it even bursts into flames."

Such devices, when used with their certified, original manufactured equipment, are pretty safe and stable, Thomas said, but when they're used or damaged or not the right brand, or improperly installed, that's when issues can arise. 

"Best practice is to only charge while someone’s awake to detect if there’s a problem ... (and) respect the fact that they can be dangerous," he emphasized. 

Safety standards still catching up

A notes that there were a total of 55 fires in Toronto in 2023 caused by the failure of lithium ion batteries, and 267 in New York City. 

E-scooters and e-bikes — often popular targets for thieves that might end up for sale online — can cause not only house fires, but building fires that could potentially affect many lives, Thomas said. 

Indeed, the Vancouver Fire Rescue Service's 2024 annual report says the department is "addressing emerging challenges, including risks from new technologies such as lithium-ion batteries in Single-Room Occupancy (SRO) buildings and the increasing use of lockable lighters."

"Technology is moving so fast, perhaps some of the safest standards haven't caught up yet," said Thomas. "If all new buildings had to have an enclosed concrete room for charging your devices, with ventilation and a sprinkler system, then the risk to the humans inside from dying from a fire wouldn’t be as great, but the building code doesn’t even contemplate charging these devices inside homes, so safety standards have to catch up."

Personally, he tries to practice what the NFPA preaches. 

"I have electric garden equipment — a blower, a weed eater and a lawn mower — and make it my practice when I finish using them, I charge them, during the middle of the day when I’m awake, and when they’re finished charging, I unplug them from the wall," he said. "I think that is the intermediary step for people, is to do what the NFPA says: Only charge when you’re around or awake."

While technology is always evolving, humans can control what they're able, Thomas concluded. 

"Technology hasn’t caught up yet, so what we can rely on right now is human behaviour — not to use after-market parts, not to mess with the design of them and super-charge them, or modify the power profiles."