Talking about the blaze at Battery Boys/Bolt Mobile, Rob Hogan with the Saskatoon Fire Department said, "we've seen a number of lithium ion battery fires. This one, it was obvious. We could prove that's what it was." (Marija Robinson/650 CKOM)

Expert says more lithium ion battery fires will be inevitable

By Marija Robinson Mar 17, 2026 | 4:13 PM

With more details on the Battery Boys/Bolt Mobile fire coming to light, an expert shared how to stay safe around lithium ion batteries.

According to Rob Hogan, Saskatoon Fire Department’s Deputy Chief for Fire Operations and Emergency Communications, the e-bike’s lithium ion battery that caused the fire on Mar. 13 was brought in for testing by a customer who’d reported, “having some issues” with it.

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He said this type of battery-started fire is a growing trend — something echoed by Vinny Gupta, a University of Waterloo assistant professor who specializes in fire safety engineering.

“As we have more and more lithium ion batteries that we interact with on a daily basis, there inevitably will be more lithium ion battery fires,” Gupta said.

While the battery from the fire was in an e-bike, “lithium ion batteries are everywhere,” according to Gupta, who said you’d be hard-pressed to find a home that doesn’t have any.

Lithium ion batteries can store a lot of energy, making them a great choice for users and products, including phones and laptops.

But, he said these batteries can also fail for a lot of reasons.

According to Gupta, lithium ion batteries are a bunch of cells combined together.

If one cell fails though, “it can release a huge amount of energy in a very short period of time, and then that essentially spreads to the next cell, and you can get this cascading type of fire that occurs,” he said.

Lithium ion batteries are also typically enclosed, making it difficult to see if something’s gone wrong. Although, there are some signs depending on the device.

“Looking at something like your phone, if you see your battery start swelling that’s an obvious sign that it may have a fault associated with it. So, certainly, if you start seeing physical deformations with your battery, stop using it and don’t charge it anymore and take it for disposal,” Gupta said.

Since the signs aren’t always obvious though, Gupta had other tips for dealing with lithium ion batteries.

He recommended using branded charging products certified in Canada and charging while you’re around.

“Don’t charge lithium ion batteries unattended, if possible, and don’t store them in exits. So, if they do catch on fire, you can escape a room or a building,” he said.

According to Hogan, it’s unknown if the e-bike’s battery that started the fire was charging when it happened.

Saskatoon Fire adapts

With lithium ion battery fires becoming more common, Hogan said the city’s fire department is having to adapt its approach on dealing with these blazes.

“So unfortunately, the world of lithium, the world of batteries, has advanced so fast it’s really hard for us to catch up. So, the training that we were doing even two years ago, we realized now is not the best training to do. So, we’re continually having to evolve in our training,” he said.

According to Hogan, firefighters are now being taught not to extinguish the fire. Instead, they need to protect the environment around it.

“Let the battery consume itself and then go from there,” he said.

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