Crews responded to two fires in the city involving lithium-ion batteries on Sunday. The first one broke out in an alleyway near St. Clair Avenue West and Bathurst Street around 11:23 a.m. Toronto Fire Services (TFS) said an e-bike caught fire in the laneway between two buildings. It was later knocked down, and TFS said the fire did not spread. Two people were assessed by Toronto paramedics for smoke inhalation, TFS said. More than two hours later, around 1:48 p.m., crews responded to a fire inside an apartment building near Crescent Town Road and Victoria Park Avenue. Toronto police said a lithium-ion batter caught fire. According to TFS, the fire was located in a ground floor unit. No injuries were reported, and the fire has been extinguished. TFS Chief Jim Jessop told CTV News recently that fires caused by lithium-ion batteries pose the greatest public safety risk in Toronto. He said the city has seen a 200 per cent increase in lithium-ion battery fires since 2022. “The data we’ve gotten out of our investigations is it’s predominantly the batteries that are not regulated, do not meet a standard, that anybody can go on any internet site to bring into this country and use, quite often for purposes or with devices for which they were not originally designed,” Jessop said. That’s why he’s been calling for the federal and provincial governments to make regulatory changes and amendments to the fire code. “Our firefighters are going into buildings that are more unpredictable, that are more dangerous, and that the fires are a lot more intense and toxic than they ever were,” he said. With files from Heather Wright, CTV National News senior correspondent
