Lithium-ion batteries signify a brand new technological hazard that one fireplace science professional has mentioned retains him awake at night time, as fireplace service chiefs warn the ubiquity of the batteries in on a regular basis merchandise is outpacing public understanding and security rules.
The blaze that devastated a historic building in Glasgow and resulted in the persevering with closure of Central Station, Scotland’s largest rail interchange is believed to have began in a store promoting vapes, which are powered by lithium-ion batteries. The most recent information reveals a pointy enhance in battery-related fires throughout Scotland, whereas firefighters in London attend an e-bike or e-scooter fireplace each different day.
Paul Christensen, a professor of pure and utilized electrochemistry at the College of Newcastle, underlined that, whereas the chance of a fireplace from a lithium-ion battery is very low, the hazard is “very, very excessive, as we’ve seen with this hearth in Glasgow”.
Guillermo Rein, a professor of fireplace science at Imperial School London, mentioned: “It’s a brand new expertise that comes with an unintended new hazard, that retains me awake at night time.
“A lithium battery fireplace – when it comes to the means it develops, the means we detect it and the way we suppress it – is utterly completely different from the types of fires we now have protected our properties, companies and public buildings towards. It breaches most of the layers of safety that we all know. They usually [the batteries] are omnipresent.”
Lithium-ion batteries are utilized in cellphones, tablets, laptops, electrical toothbrushes, instruments, toys and vapes, and are additionally used to energy e-bikes, e-scooters and electrical autos.
If used incorrectly or broken, they create a particular hazard, referred to as thermal runaway: a harmful chain response the place the temperature inside the battery rises uncontrollably, producing a poisonous fuel that vents at excessive stress making a flame like a blow torch, and exploding.
Present information suggests a significant escalation in these fires lately. London fireplace brigade experiences that firefighters attended 206 e-bike and e-scooter fires in 2025, in contrast with 12 in 2019. In complete there have been 521 associated fires, in contrast with 80 in 2019. Of 5 fatalities in the previous three years, none of the useless owned the e-bike concerned. LFB says these fires have had a “devastating impact” on households and communities.
There is no particular information assortment for lithium battery-related fires in England and Wales, now underneath assessment. However, in accordance to the newest FoI information from the Scottish fireplace and rescue service, there have been 69 lithium battery-related fires in Scotland in 2025, in contrast with 20 in 2019, together with 10 home fires final yr, two in hospitals and three in prisons. Information going again to 2009 confirms there have been no associated fatalities in Scotland.
The wrong disposal of those batteries – which ought to not be thrown in an atypical bin however could be recycled in bins at many supermarkets – has resulted in critical fires in bin lorries and at recycling vegetation throughout the UK, the price of which is now estimated yearly at greater than £1bn, in addition to inflicting accidents to employees.
LFB attended two fires in vape outlets in 2025, and the UK Vaping Business Affiliation is calling for the licensing scheme proposed in the UK authorities’s tobacco and vapes invoice to be “strong”.
Dan Marchant, the director of the on-line retailer Vape Membership and a founding member of the affiliation, mentioned: “This would require outlets to present they perceive the significance of age verification, ensuring they’re authorized merchandise, that they’ve a recycling system in place, and perceive electrical security.”
Extra broadly, the Nationwide Fireplace Chiefs Council has raised issues that the growing use of lithium-ion batteries is shifting sooner than the security requirements designed to regulate them. Its electrical security lead, Richard Subject, warned: “When these batteries fail, they will fail catastrophically.
“Fireplace chiefs have been clear that stronger product security guidelines, tighter oversight of on-line gross sales and efficient enforcement are wanted to guarantee merchandise getting into the UK market meet strong security necessities.”
Public schooling was key, mentioned Christensen. “Lithium batteries have penetrated all ranges of society, and for my part have finished to date sooner than we’ve understood the dangers and hazards. There additionally seems to be a reluctance at authorities degree, each this one and the earlier one, to settle for that these hazards exist, a lot much less to handle them.”
Rein noticed that reluctance from the battery trade too, which “has by no means had a difficulty with security before”.
“I don’t like regulation for the sake of it, however that could be the solely reply, as a result of it is so surprising, the lack of management in the battery trade that is bringing these hazards into our properties,” he mentioned.
Disclaimer: This article is sourced from external platforms. OverBeta has not independently verified the information. Readers are advised to verify details before relying on them.
