Homeowner unable to staunch battery fire

A fire caused when batteries from a lawnmower and weedwhacker consumed a home in Strathcona County, east of Edmonton, Alta. earlier this month are a stark reminder of the risks posed by lithium-ion batteries.

The homeowner escaped unharmed but the house is said to be ‘a write-off,’ according to reports from Global News and other outlets following the July 20 fire.

According to news reports, the batteries had been removed from their charger and placed near the home’s front entrance. After the fire started, the homeowner reportedly turned a fire extinguisher on the batteries, only to have them reignite after briefly ceasing to burn.

Lithium-ion battery fires are started by a chain reaction within the cells called thermal runaway, which can lead to explosions that spread flames quickly. Those fires produce toxic fumes and are difficult to extinguish.

The incident is of concern to insurers and brokers writing homeowner coverage as the power cells are used in a plethora of devices from cell phones and computers to lawnmowers and electric scooters and e-bikes.

According to regional real estate listings for Alberta’s Strathcona County, homes of the type destroyed in the July 20 fire range in price from $200,000 to $500,000.

Over the past year, e-scooters and e-bikes in particular have been an emerging source of claims and legal actions as inflationary conditions spur Canadians to seek transportation alternatives that are cheaper than automobiles.

Lithium lawsuits

In late January of this year, a Vancouver woman sued several e-bike manufacturers following an apartment fire that killed her partner. The suit alleges the lithium-ion battery in an e-bike stored in their apartment started the blaze.

Further, in late 2023 an e-bike’s lithium-ion battery caught fire on a Toronto subway train causing a station evacuation but no loss of life. Following the incident, Toronto Fire Services issued reminders about related fire risks.

E-scooters and e-bikes also have came under the scrutiny of U.S. regulators following multiple reports of fires, some deadly, caused by lithium-ion batteries.

Commenting on the battery fire issue earlier this year, Jeff Weidman, a partner at law firm Clyde & Co. in Calgary, noted claims related to e-scooters hadn’t yet made a large impact in Canada’s court system.

“That might be because they are new,” he told CU. “E-scooters have really only been in operation for three or four years in Canada. It takes a while [for a suit] to make it through our court system.

“Stay tuned. I looked at the U.S. and, like a lot of things, trends that start in the U.S. usually make their way to Canada.”

Recycling risks

Beyond residential housing, lithium-ion batteries are also proving dangerous for operators of industrial facilities, including centres where the power cells are sent for recycling.

Used lithium-ion batteries, notes Adrian Simmonds, practice leader of property risk solutions at QBE, are at higher risk of catching fire than new units.

He says simple aspects of daily use expose lithium-ion batteries to shaking, impact shock and the possibility of “being being connected to poor-quality or faulty chargers, which can trigger internal faults that lead to thermal runaway.”

Feature image courtesy of iStock/Matt277