Lithium-Ion Battery Fires in the GTA: The Numbers

Toronto's published lithium-ion battery totals do not form one continuous series. CP24 reported calls, TorontoToday reported fires, and other outlets reported incidents on different dates. Each figure is valid only with its source, date and counting label attached, so the table below preserves those labels instead of merging them into a single trend line.

Sources last checked against Toronto Fire, CP24 and CBC on August 24, 2026. This page is a maintained reference for reporters, condo boards, property managers and anyone comparing public claims about the trend. It will be reviewed quarterly and revised when a source publishes a new official period or changes its definition.

Toronto figures with the original counting label preserved

Period	Published figure	Counting label	Source and publication date
2020	11	Incidents involving lithium-ion batteries	Toronto Fire Services 2024 Annual Report, released in 2025
2022	29	Battery fires	CP24, July 28, 2026
2024	76	Incidents involving lithium-ion batteries	Toronto Fire Services 2024 Annual Report, released in 2025
2025	71	Battery fires	CP24, July 28, 2026
Through July 27, 2026	50	Calls	CP24, July 28, 2026
August 2026 reporting point	80	Incidents	Mugglehead, August 2026
Through August 18, 2026	85	Fires	TorontoToday, August 18, 2026
Projected 2026 year end	More than 100	Projected battery-fire total	Toronto Fire Chief Jim Jessop, reported by CP24 on July 28, 2026

The official Toronto Fire annual-report series is useful for historical direction. The news figures are useful snapshots of what a named source knew on a particular day. They should not be spliced without first confirming whether the source is counting dispatch calls, investigated fires, all battery incidents or a narrower subset.

The historical direction is clear even when snapshots disagree

Toronto Fire Services' 2024 Annual Report states that incidents involving lithium-ion batteries increased from 11 in 2020 to 76 in 2024, which the report calculated as a 591 per cent increase. That is a single agency series and therefore a stronger trend measure than comparing unrelated media snapshots.

CP24 reported on July 28, 2026 that the increase from 29 battery fires in 2022 to the fire chief's projected 2026 year-end figure exceeded 250 per cent. The projection is not an observed final total. It should be cited as Jim Jessop's projection through CP24, not as a completed annual count.

TorontoToday reported on August 18, 2026 that Toronto Fire Services had recorded 85 fires involving lithium-ion batteries and described that figure as 40 per cent above the same point in 2025. That later figure does not retroactively change CP24's July call count. It answers a different question on a later date.

Calls, fires and incidents are not interchangeable units

A call is a service-demand record. Several calls may relate to one event, or a call may be coded before the cause is confirmed. A fire generally describes an event classified as fire-related after response or investigation. An incident can be broader, potentially including overheating, smoke, explosion or another battery failure depending on the agency's reporting rules.

Publication timing adds another difference. A newsroom may receive a number in the morning, while a later fire pushes the agency's public total higher that afternoon. Some reports use year-to-date periods ending on different days. Others quote a chief's social post, a council presentation or a formal annual report. None should be described as wrong solely because the totals differ.

For citation, retain four fields together: the number, counting label, cutoff date and source. The safe formulation is, "CP24 reported 50 calls through July 27, 2026." The unsafe formulation is, "Toronto had about 50 fires in 2026," because it changes both the event type and time period.

Ottawa offers a useful Ontario comparison

Ottawa period	Fires linked to lithium-ion batteries	Source and date
2024	19	CP24, May 21, 2026, citing Ottawa Fire Services
2025	25	CP24, May 21, 2026, citing Ottawa Fire Services
2026 to the reporting date	10	CP24, May 21, 2026, citing Ottawa Fire Services
January 1, 2024 through the reporting date	54	CP24, May 21, 2026, citing Ottawa Fire Services

CP24 reported on May 21, 2026 that Ottawa Fire Services counted 54 fires linked to lithium-ion batteries from January 1, 2024 through its reporting cutoff, broken down as 19 in 2024, 25 in 2025 and 10 in 2026, with 23 of the 54 causing significant damage to homes. Those figures come from a single Ottawa Fire Services report to the city's emergency preparedness and protective services committee, so the year rows can be added without mixing agencies or definitions. CBC Ottawa reported the same 54 and 10 totals on May 29, 2026.

Ottawa is not a denominator for Toronto. Population, housing, delivery activity, device ownership and coding practices differ. The comparison shows that the issue is not limited to one municipal fire service; it does not establish a per-capita ranking or a provincewide rate.

Percentage changes also require one stable series. Calculate a change only when the start and end values use the same event definition and reporting method. Do not average media totals, convert a call count into a fire count or present a projected year-end value as observed. If the denominator or label is unavailable, publish the raw attributed figure and state the limitation.

The data does not reveal an individual battery's probability of failure

Incident totals are numerators without a reliable exposure denominator. Toronto does not publish a complete count of e-bikes, scooters, power tools, vapes, phones, aftermarket packs or charging sessions in use. The figures therefore cannot answer, "What percentage of batteries catch fire?" They show service burden and direction, not product-level probability.

The totals also do not separate original equipment from rebuilt or altered packs in every row. Fire officials repeatedly identify micromobility, modification and mismatched charging equipment as major concerns, but the public tables are not a product-failure database. A claim about one brand, chemistry or charger needs origin-and-cause evidence beyond the citywide total.

Severity is also hidden. One row may combine a contained power-bank event with an e-bike fire that contaminates a unit, corridor, riser and common ventilation. For property planning, the count describes frequency while the fire damage restoration scope explains why a single severe loss can affect far more space than its point of origin.

Toronto's regulatory timeline is still open

Date	Action	Status
October 8 and 9, 2025	Toronto City Council requested stronger federal regulation and asked Ontario and the Office of the Fire Marshal to explore Fire Code amendments.	Adopted by City Council
May 2026	Toronto City Council unanimously directed staff to study municipal authority over lithium-ion battery sales and storage.	Toronto City Council study underway
Early 2027	Staff study scheduled to conclude, with proposed municipal by-laws expected on battery storage and sales.	Pending

The Toronto City Council decision adopted October 8 and 9, 2025 asked the federal transport and health ministers for stronger rules and asked Ontario's Solicitor General and Office of the Fire Marshal to explore Ontario Fire Code changes with Toronto Fire Services. The later Toronto City Council motion in May 2026 added the municipal sales-and-storage study and an early 2027 reporting horizon.

No proposed Toronto by-law is final merely because a study is underway. Condo corporations and property managers still need rules grounded in their present authority, declarations and building conditions. The regulatory work is a reason to keep policies amendable, not a reason to leave charging and storage unaddressed.

Ontario is building a provincewide evidence base

The Office of the Fire Marshal has asked fire departments to report lithium-battery fires regardless of incident size so the province receives more consistent information. The Office of the Fire Marshal's published firefighter guidance, updated May 28, 2026, treats thermal-runaway gases as immediately dangerous to life and health, calls for thorough documentation and directs services to investigate and report these events.

The Office of the Fire Marshal has also established an advisory process examining possible Fire Code changes. Toronto Fire is asking provincial and federal partners for mandatory Canadian safety testing and recognized listing requirements for imported batteries. These are active policy discussions, not current claims that every battery sold in Canada must already meet one mandatory national standard.

Provincewide totals should become more useful as reporting fields stabilize. Until then, a local source should not be represented as an Ontario total. A condo board can use the trend to justify a proportionate charging policy, while a condo building response plan in Oshawa still needs to reflect its own rooms, systems and insurer.

How journalists and boards should cite this page

Use the source named in the table as the authority for the figure. This page organizes those records but does not replace them. Include the cutoff date and label in the sentence, and link the original report where possible. If a later number appears, add a new dated row rather than silently replacing an earlier snapshot that remains useful for chronology.

For board materials, separate the evidence section from the recommendation. The evidence may say Toronto Fire reported a rising series. The recommendation should explain the building-specific response, such as registration, supervised charging, locker restrictions and an incident card. The related property management restoration framework and high-rise response framework address operational planning rather than altering the data.

Maintenance protects the value of the reference

This table is scheduled for quarterly review. Each update should check Toronto Fire annual reports, council materials, the Office of the Fire Marshal, CP24, CBC and other outlets already represented. Rows should retain their original wording even when a later source uses a different counting basis. Corrections should identify what changed and why. The update log should preserve archived source links when a publisher changes its page.

FirstLine Restoration will keep the page dated and source-specific so a reporter or property manager can quote a figure without reverse-engineering its meaning. Media requests should identify the exact row being used. A future spokesperson comment, if FirstLine appoints one, should interpret the restoration and building implications without claiming access to unpublished fire-service data.