SWP - EV and Lithium Battery Fire

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. 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).

• 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; 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).
• 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).
• Roadway traffic at highway incidents; vehicle movement if the drive system is live and silent.

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); insulated tools and dielectric gloves where carried and tested; the handover warning card; roadway blocking equipment per SWP - Roadway Incident Scene Blocking.

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.

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. 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).

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.

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). 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.

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).

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.

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). 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.

19. Readings and imager observations logged; exposure reports filed for every member near the vehicle (SWP - Exposure Reporting); gross decon of PPE on scene and post-call station decon (Decontamination and Contamination Control Program); hot debrief; triage under Incident Investigation and Learning Program.

• 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.

The EV incident checklist (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.

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.

• Program: Hazardous Materials, CBRN and Energy Hazards Program section 5.9.
• Policy: Policy - Hazardous Materials and WHMIS.
• Procedures: SWP - Solar PV and Energy Storage Systems; SWP - Hazmat Entry and Decontamination; SWP - Roadway Incident Scene Blocking; SWP - Downed Power Lines and Utility Emergencies; SWP - Exposure Reporting.
• Forms: Form - Hazmat Entry Log and Air Monitoring Record.

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.

Fire Safety Research Institute [FSRI]. (n.d.-a). Electric vehicle fire experiments [Urban Fire Forum presentation, 2025–2026]. UL Research Institutes. https://www.nfpa.org/-/media/Project/Storefront/Catalog/Files/Member-Sections/Metro-Chiefs/Urban-Fire-Forum/2026/ULRI-FSRI-UFF-Metro-Chiefs-EV-Experiments-UFF.pdf

Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development [MLITSD]. (n.d.). Firefighter guidance notes (Section 21 Advisory Committee; individual notes revised to 2026). https://www.ontario.ca/document/firefighter-guidance-notes