UK fire brigades are tackling fires caused by a lithium-ion battery at a rate of once every five hours, new figures show.
Freedom of Information response collected by global business insurer QBE shows there were 1760 battery-linked fires in 2025, a 147% increase in just three years.
Averaging 4.8 fires caused by lithium-ion batteries per day, 46% occurred in people’s homes, while 31% arose outdoors, and 23% were recorded in commercial properties.
Lithium-ion battery fires are caused by ‘thermal runaway’, a chemical reaction where batteries start to irreversibly overheat, usually due to impact damage, over-charging or overheating.
The London Fire Brigade recorded 522 lithium-ion battery fires in 2025, the highest number of all the fire services in the UK.
This is followed by West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, which reported 126 lithium-ion battery fires, and Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, reporting 117 fires.
Bedfordshire and Luton were the only fire services in the UK to report a year-on-year reduction in lithium-ion fires.
A policy briefing by the Environmental Services Association (ESA) reported that six billion batteries were discarded across the UK in 2024.
More than 1.1 billion of these batteries were left inside electrical products, such as toothbrushes, razors, mobile phones and vapes.
The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) recorded over 1,200 battery-related fires in waste facilities or collection vehicles between 2023 and 2024 – a 71% rise on the previous year.
