Toronto fire

20 e-bikes catch fire at underground Toronto parking garage

Toronto Fire Service crews were called to the scene of a three-alarm fire at an underground parking garage of a Forest Hill residential building shortly after 12:30 am on Monday morning.

When responders arrived at the building on Eglinton Ave W near Spadina Rd, they discovered about 20 e-bikes and scooters that had caught on fire, and thick, black smoke seeping from the garage. Responders put out the blaze before it spread to the building, but one woman was transported to the hospital with smoke inhalation.

All remaining residents made it out safely.

“These fires tend to escalate pretty quickly. They burn hot, they burn fast,” Division Commander Steve Darling told City News.

According to Health Canada, there has been a reported increase in e-mobility device battery fires across North America in the last few years, particularly involving lithium-ion batteries.

The agency also warns that rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are more easily damaged than other types of batteries and can become hazardous in certain conditions, leading to safety risks, such as overheating, fires, and explosions. This appears to be a growing problem in Toronto — the city is seeing a rise in fires from the failure of lithium-ion batteries, with 55 fires reported in 2023 compared to 29 in 2022 (perhaps the most notable incident to end off last year being the e-bike that caught fire on a TTC subway car at the Sheppard-Yonge subway station).

“When you charge these things, once they’re charged, you separate the battery from the charger and unplug the charger, so they don’t overheat,” Darling said. “It’s the overheating that starts to run away and that’s when they run into problems. Also, altering any chargers or batteries to try and get longer life. It’s just a bad thing to do.”

Residents told the news agency that the bikes belonged to a man who they believe runs a repair shop, but officials are still investigating the source, including checking the e-bike batteries and chargers.

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