# SWP - EV and Lithium Battery Fire > Fire Service Safety Management System, version 0.3.3 (2026-10-25). The Human Factor. Document FSSMS-SWP-26. > > Canonical: https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/swp-ev-and-lithium-battery-fire > > Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 with the Adopting Agency Grant (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) > > General information only, not legal, medical or other professional advice. Verify every requirement against the current official text of the law, standards and manufacturer instructions that apply to you. Obtain your own legal review and consult your joint health and safety committee before adopting anything. You adopt, adapt, implement and rely on this material entirely at your own risk and on your own responsibility. Full terms: Terms of Use, thehumanfactor.ca. > **Warning: Adoption without implementation increases legal exposure** > > Adopting this procedure without the training, equipment, supervision, verification and resources to carry it out as written increases municipal and command liability in a regulatory investigation or a fatality inquiry. See [00a Copyright, Licence and Legal Notices](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/copyright-licence-and-legal-notices). > **Speak up: Speak up** > > Anyone can stop this task if it looks wrong. Say the hazard, then the action: “Captain, that pack is still venting on the imager. Nobody opens the hatch; back everyone to the line.” The officer acknowledges, acts, and reviews it later for learning, never for blame. The one debrief question for this task: who has that battery now, and did we tell them in writing it can reignite? ## 1. Task and when this applies Responding to a fire, a crash or a suspected thermal runaway involving a lithium-ion battery: electric and hybrid vehicles, e-bikes and scooters, mobility devices, power tool and consumer batteries, and batteries in vehicles or devices inside buildings. Stationary energy storage systems and solar arrays are in [SWP - Solar PV and Energy Storage Systems](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/swp-solar-pv-and-energy-storage-systems). The guidance this procedure rests on changes often; the Hazardous Materials team checks it against the current guidance at least annually (MLITSD, n.d., GN 6-19 and 6-50). ## 2. Hazards - Thermal runaway: a self-sustaining reaction that spreads cell to cell, produces intense heat and jet flames, and can restart hours, days or weeks later because of stranded energy ([NTSB, 2020, SR-20/01](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/swp-ev-and-lithium-battery-fire#ref-ntsb-2020); MLITSD, n.d., GN 6-50). - Off-gas that is flammable and toxic; reported constituents include hydrogen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen chloride and volatile organics. Treated as IDLH (MLITSD, n.d., GN 6-50). - Deflagration of accumulated gas in a garage, a room, a container or a vehicle interior [(IAFF et al., 2023)](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/swp-ev-and-lithium-battery-fire#ref-iaff-2023). - High-voltage electrical shock from damaged packs and cables; orange high-voltage cabling. - Projectiles from venting cells; burns. - Reignition on the flatbed, at the tow yard or in storage after the department leaves [(NTSB, 2020, SR-20/01)](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/swp-ev-and-lithium-battery-fire#ref-ntsb-2020). - Roadway traffic at highway incidents; vehicle movement if the drive system is live and silent. ## 3. Controls in hierarchy order | Level | Control | |:---|:---| | Elimination | Defensive operation where there is no life hazard; let the battery burn out with exposures protected rather than fight it; nobody enters a gas-filled space | | Substitution | Cooling the pack with a large sustained water flow from a distance in place of direct attack on the battery | | Engineering | Thermal imager monitoring; air monitoring at the perimeter; apparatus blocking on roadways; chocks; vehicle rescue sheets and emergency response guides; clear area at the yard | | Administrative | This procedure; identify, shut down, watch; no overhaul of a damaged pack; the escort and written handover; dispatch screening; watch period; disposal arrangement | | PPE | Full structural PPE and SCBA for every member near the battery, before and after knockdown (MLITSD, n.d., GN 6-50) | ## 4. Required PPE and equipment Full structural PPE and SCBA; thermal imager; four-gas instrument; chocks; a water supply plan for a large sustained flow (tanker shuttle or hydrant) or a decision to burn out; the vehicle rescue sheet or manufacturer’s emergency response guide, in the standard ISO 17840 rescue sheet layout where the vehicle carries one [(NTSB, 2020, SR-20/01)](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/swp-ev-and-lithium-battery-fire#ref-ntsb-2020); insulated tools and dielectric gloves where carried and tested; the handover warning card; roadway blocking equipment per [SWP - Roadway Incident Scene Blocking](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/swp-roadway-incident-scene-blocking). ## 5. Minimum staffing and competencies A company officer and crew trained in the annual energy-hazards session; a pump operator; a second company for a working vehicle fire on a roadway or any battery fire inside a structure; the ISO at any battery incident inside a structure or lasting more than one hour; members trained on the instruments they use. ## 6. Step-by-step procedure ### Approach and identify 1. Dispatch asks: is a vehicle, scooter, e-bike, tool battery or home battery involved; is it inside a building; is it charging. Crews hear the answers before arrival. 2. Approach from upwind; stage uphill where possible; block the roadway per [SWP - Roadway Incident Scene Blocking](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/swp-roadway-incident-scene-blocking). Keep civilians and non-essential members back; the department’s working distance from a venting pack is set in the Customize callout. 3. Identify: badges, charging port, absence of a tailpipe, orange cabling, the rescue sheet, plate lookup through dispatch, the owner. Say it on the radio: “Confirmed EV, battery involved” or “not involved”. 4. Full PPE and SCBA on before anyone goes near the vehicle, including after the fire appears out (MLITSD, n.d., GN 6-50). ### Shut down and stabilize 5. Vehicle in park, ignition off, key or fob moved at least 5 m away, wheels chocked. An EV can move silently if the drive is live. 6. High-voltage disconnect only where the crew is trained for that vehicle and the rescue sheet shows the cut loop or service disconnect; otherwise leave it and treat the system as live. 7. If the vehicle was charging, isolate the charging equipment at its disconnect or breaker; do not pull the connector from a burning vehicle. 8. **Decision point: is the battery involved?** Thermal imager on the pack from several angles; look for venting (hissing, popping, white or grey jets), smoke from under the vehicle, heat on the imager under the floor. Air monitoring at the perimeter. ### Fire attack 9. **Battery not involved:** extinguish the vehicle fire as a normal vehicle fire with the imager watching the pack throughout; keep the watch period in step 13. 10. **Battery involved, no life hazard, no exposures:** confine, protect exposures, and let the pack burn out with the imager and monitoring in place. This is a decision, announced on the radio, not a default by inaction. 11. **Battery involved, life hazard or exposures:** extinguish the cabin and the ordinary vehicle fire first, then cool the pack directly with the largest sustained flow available, applied to the pack from underneath or at its edges from the greatest distance the stream allows; expect to use a great deal of water for a long time (FSRI, n.d.-a; [NTSB, 2020, SR-20/01](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/swp-ev-and-lithium-battery-fire#ref-ntsb-2020)). Do not penetrate the pack, lift it, or pry at it to get water in. 12. Any extrication with a battery present: a charged line at the vehicle; no purchase points, cuts or spreading through the pack or the orange cabling; the rescue sheet identifies the cut zones. ### Watch 13. After knockdown, the imager stays on the pack and the four-gas instrument stays at the perimeter until readings have been stable for the watch period the department sets (the Customize callout; the guidance reports reignition “hours, days, or even weeks later”) (MLITSD, n.d., GN 6-50). A pack that heats again is cooled again. 14. **No overhaul of the damaged pack.** Nobody opens, cuts or disturbs it to “make sure” (MLITSD, n.d., GN 6-53). ### Batteries inside buildings 15. A burning or venting e-bike, scooter, tool battery or device in a residence: full PPE and SCBA; ventilate on the deflagration risk, not by habit; control the fire; then, when it is safe and the device is cool enough to move by the method the SOG sets, remove it to the exterior, away from combustibles and the building, and watch it. Do not carry a damaged battery in an elevator. An EV in an attached garage is treated as a battery fire inside a structure: defensive unless a life hazard, nobody enters a gas-filled garage, and the ISO is assigned. > **Warning: Stop-work triggers** > > Stop and withdraw to the line, and tell command, when: a member is near the pack without SCBA; venting restarts or intensifies; the imager shows heat spreading across the pack; the perimeter reading reaches an action level; anyone proposes to open, cut, lift or overhaul the pack; a tow operator arrives to load a pack that is still venting or hot; the water supply cannot be sustained for the plan chosen; the vehicle moves. ### Handover and escort 16. Tow arranged. The operator is told, in person and with the written handover card, that the battery holds stranded energy and can reignite; the card names the department, the incident number, the time and the watch readings. Loading waits until the pack has been stable for the watch period or the operator agrees to the risk in writing. 17. An apparatus escorts the vehicle to the recovery location (MLITSD, n.d., GN 6-50). The yard is asked to park it about 15 m (50 ft) from other vehicles and structures, or the best achievable, and to monitor it [(NTSB, 2020, SR-20/01)](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/swp-ev-and-lithium-battery-fire#ref-ntsb-2020). The handover is recorded: who, when, what they were told. 18. Damaged consumer batteries and devices go to the municipality’s or the contractor’s arrangement for damaged battery storage; they do not come to the station. ### Termination 19. Readings and imager observations logged; exposure reports filed for every member near the vehicle ([SWP - Exposure Reporting](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/swp-exposure-reporting)); gross decon of PPE on scene and post-call station decon ([Decontamination and Contamination Control Program](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/decontamination-and-contamination-control-program)); hot debrief; triage under [Incident Investigation and Learning Program](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/incident-investigation-and-learning-program). ## 7. Emergency and contingency - **Deflagration or sudden flare:** emergency traffic; withdraw to the line; PAR; EHS for burns; reassess from a greater distance. - **Member shocked:** do not touch the member until the source is isolated or the member is clear; treat as a cardiac emergency; EHS. - **Reignition after the tow operator has loaded it:** the escorting apparatus stops the tow, cools the pack on the flatbed from a distance, and calls for a second unit. - **Reignition reported from the yard after handover:** respond; record it as a reignition after handover for the quarterly review. - **Water supply fails mid-attack:** withdraw to a defensive position, protect exposures, let it burn, and re-establish supply. ## 8. Documentation and reporting The EV incident checklist ([Hazardous Materials, CBRN and Energy Hazards Program](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/hazardous-materials-cbrn-and-energy-hazards-program) toolkit item 5); air monitoring log; handover record; exposure reports; near-miss reports; the incident triaged (Tier 1 for every battery incident; Tier 2 for any deflagration, shock, extrication through a pack, or reignition after handover). Handover documentation and reignition counts in the quarterly indicator worksheet. ## 9. Training and review Every suppression member: the annual energy-hazards session with a scenario sign-off, with the guidance version recorded; officers: the decision points in the annual command simulation; dispatchers: the screening questions annually. The Hazardous Materials team checks this procedure against new guidance at least annually and after every battery incident with a stop-work trigger, with a learning-team session first. Sign-off: the program manager; consulted: the JOHSC. ## 10. Related - Program: [Hazardous Materials, CBRN and Energy Hazards Program](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/hazardous-materials-cbrn-and-energy-hazards-program) section 5.9. - Policy: [Policy - Hazardous Materials and WHMIS](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/policy-hazardous-materials-and-whmis). - Procedures: [SWP - Solar PV and Energy Storage Systems](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/swp-solar-pv-and-energy-storage-systems); [SWP - Hazmat Entry and Decontamination](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/swp-hazmat-entry-and-decontamination); [SWP - Roadway Incident Scene Blocking](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/swp-roadway-incident-scene-blocking); [SWP - Downed Power Lines and Utility Emergencies](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/swp-downed-power-lines-and-utility-emergencies); [SWP - Exposure Reporting](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/swp-exposure-reporting). - Forms: [Form - Hazmat Entry Log and Air Monitoring Record](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/form-hazmat-entry-log-and-air-monitoring-record). > **Note: Customize** > > Set the working distance from a venting pack, the key or fob distance, the watch period before handover, the tow operators the department escorts to and the handover card wording, the disposal arrangement for damaged batteries, and the method and equipment for moving a damaged device out of a building. ## Jurisdiction requirements This chapter relies on the following legal requirements, which differ by province and territory. Check your jurisdiction’s section on each topic page before adopting it. | Topic | What to check in your jurisdiction | Page | |:---|:---|:---| | Firefighter PPE and Protective Equipment | The SCBA and protective ensemble requirements, which apply at battery fires as at any other fire | [J13 Firefighter PPE and Protective Equipment](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/j13-firefighter-ppe-and-protective-equipment) | | Emergency Vehicles, Drivers and Licensing | The traffic statute that governs roadway operations at vehicle battery incidents | [J30 Emergency Vehicles, Drivers and Licensing](https://thehumanfactor.ca/library/fire-service-safety/j30-emergency-vehicles-drivers-and-licensing) | ## References Fire Safety Research Institute \[FSRI\]. (n.d.-a). *Electric vehicle fire experiments* \[Urban Fire Forum presentation, 2025–2026\]. UL Research Institutes. International Association of Fire Fighters \[IAFF\], UL Solutions, & Fire Safety Research Institute \[FSRI\]. (2023). *Considerations for fire service response to residential battery energy storage system incidents*. National Transportation Safety Board \[NTSB\]. (2020). *Safety risks to emergency responders from lithium-ion battery fires in electric vehicles* (Safety Report NTSB/SR-20/01). Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development \[MLITSD\]. (n.d.). *Firefighter guidance notes* (Section 21 Advisory Committee; individual notes revised to 2026).