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Toronto Fire Services are once again raising the alarm after they say lithium-ion batteries were involved in a blaze at a city-run shelter.
Crews were called to the scene of a two-alarm fire at a highrise at 2180 Islington Ave. around 5:35 Wednesday morning to reports of black smoke. The building was a former hotel converted into a city-run shelter.
“Arriving crews did encounter smoke and, along with the building’s sprinkler system, put the fire out on the seventh floor,” said north command platoon chief Peter Rappos.
Though he said the cause is not yet determined, he said a quantity of lithium-ion batteries were removed from the unit. The service confirmed to Global News that part of the investigation is to determine if the batteries were the source of the fire or just “involved.”
No injuries were reported from the fire.
An investigation is ongoing and Rappos told Global News the unit will be “out of service” for some time. Part of the seventh floor has also been evacuated, but he stressed there will be no displaced residents as there are spare units in the building to accommodate residents.
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Lithium-ion batteries, which are used to power a wide range of items such as smartphones, e-bikes and electric toothbrushes, have been behind several fires this year.
One day earlier, four people, including two children, were sent to hospital Tuesday after a two-alarm fire broke out at a separate highrise at Ontario Street and St. James Avenue.
According to division commander John Carson, batteries and e-bikes were found on the balcony of the unit and a couple of batteries were found inside the unit during that investigation.
“The batteries were compromised inside and then outside. It certainly would have contributed to the intense burn,” Carson said.
Rappos said Wednesday that Toronto Fire Services has responded to 76 lithium-ion battery incidents to date, an increase of 35 per cent compared to this time last year. There have been a total of 14 injuries and two deaths from the incidents this year.
Chief Jim Jessop said in a post on X Tuesday afternoon that Tuesday’s fire was lithium-ion battery related and that cases of these fires were continuing to increase.
“The consequences can be devastating,” Jessop wrote.
When the batteries heat up, some can enter what the UL Research Institutes call a “thermal runaway,” an uncontrollable, self-heating state that can lead to combustion.
But previous fires involving the batteries have often involved users of the devices that utilize the batteries not buying compatible parts, overcharging the device or using chargers that may not be recommended by the manufacturers.
The batteries are generally safe, but can become dangerous if damaged, tampered with or improperly charged. Things to look out for include an unusual, almost plastic odour, smoke coming from the device and the item beginning to heat up to an “extreme” degree.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
