World Slowly Waking Up to Menace of Lithium Battery Fires, Experts Say

‘Regulatory action still lags behind the pace of incidents,’ a senior technical consultant at a fire extinguisher manufacturer said.

Firefighters try to put out a fire, likely caused by a lithium battery pack, on an Air Busan plane at Gimhae International Airport in Busan, South Korea, on Jan. 28, 2025. Yonhap via Reuters

Lithium-ion battery fires are a growing cause for concern around the world, with fears about how electric vehicles, e-bikes, laptop chargers, and power banks pose a risk to people at home, at work, and on the move.

Fires involving lithium batteries—which are rechargeable—are notoriously difficult to extinguish using conventional firefighting methods.

Meanwhile, global demand for lithium-ion batteries is expected to increase significantly between 2025 and 2030.

Matt Humby, a senior technical consultant at fire extinguisher manufacturer Firechief Global, told The Epoch Times that he does not think that governments or international regulatory bodies have woken up to the danger represented by lithium batteries.

“While awareness is growing, regulatory action still lags behind the pace of incidents we’ve had with lithium-ion battery fires,” Humby said. “Many trade bodies ... are reactive rather than proactive, and there’s still a lack of global consistency in standards and enforcement.”

However, Grant Gibbs, business development manager of energy storage at a safety testing company in the UK, said the United Nations and international standardization bodies, governments, and regulatory bodies around the world are “well aware of the perceived risks” associated with lithium batteries.

He said bodies such as the International Electrotechnical Commission and the International Organization for Standardization are revising and expanding requirements for the testing, transport, and end-of-life management of lithium batteries, with the aim of ensuring “global alignment on safety and sustainability.”

On Sept. 24, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued new guidance: “Devices containing lithium metal batteries or lithium-ion batteries, including—but not limited to—smartphones, tablets, cameras, and laptops, should be kept in accessible carry-on baggage.

“If these devices are packed in checked baggage, they should be turned completely off, protected from accidental activation, and packed so they are protected from damage.”

The FAA said there were 89 incidents in 2024 in which lithium batteries emitted smoke, fire, or extreme heat aboard planes, and up until the end of August 2025, there have been an additional 61.

In-Flight Fire Risk

On Jan. 28, 2025, an Air Busan plane was destroyed by fire on the runway in Busan, South Korea. Preliminary findings indicated that a power bank stored in an overhead cabin likely went up in flames shortly before take-off.

All 170 passengers and six crew members were evacuated, with three seriously injured and 24 having sustained minor injuries.

“The Air Busan incident shows how quickly things can escalate. Without stricter controls and better passenger education, an in-flight fire remains a real risk,” Humby said. “Many airlines have placed bans on power banks, but I really think this sector really needs to look deeper into this fire risk.

“It’s taken an aircraft fire to make them really sit up and see what the situation is.”

Humby pointed out that there had been several in-flight fires caused by overheating power banks, including one in August, when a fire started aboard a KLM plane flying from Sao Paulo to Amsterdam.

“They managed to get it under control, because they’re small batteries, so you can probably put them in water or an ice bucket. But planes should be carrying fire-resistant containment bags,” Humby said.

A number of airlines responded in the wake of the Busan incident.

Southwest Airlines told The Epoch Times that effective on May 28, it would require passengers to keep their portable chargers visible while using them.

Emirates has banned the use of power banks during flight, beginning on Oct. 1, and ordered them not to be stored in overhead compartments, while Singapore Airlines, EVA Air, China Airlines, Thai Airways, and Cathay Pacific all introduced similar restrictions in March or April 2025.

American Airlines has detailed restrictions, but has banned only large power banks, and Delta passengers are “permitted to travel with lithium ion batteries that contain a maximum of 160-watt hours per battery.”

“The measures currently implemented by airlines, such as limiting the use of power banks and requiring them to be carried in the cabin, as well as restricting charging during flights, certainly reduce the likelihood of incidents occurring,” Gibbs said.

Battery Fires ‘Systemic Issue’

However, he said that lithium battery fires are a “systemic issue” that could not be eliminated by airline restrictions alone.

“They are influenced by product quality, user behavior, regulatory oversight, and aircraft systems themselves,” Gibbs said.

In 2016, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a U.N. agency, announced that lithium batteries would no longer be allowed in checked baggage on airlines, following the raising of concerns by pilots and plane manufacturers.

The ICAO’s 36-state governing council said the prohibition would be in effect until a new fire-resistant packaging standard is designed to transport the batteries.

“While ICAO initially envisaged a new ‘fire-resistant packaging’ standard, a fully validated, globally adopted solution has yet to materialize,” Gibbs said.

He said current regulations focus on mitigating risk through stringent transport conditions.

Humby said fire-resistant packaging is “extremely difficult to achieve due to the intensity of thermal runaway events.”

He said small containment boxes had been created, but he said that “relying solely on packaging is only part of the tool kit, and a broader risk-management approach is needed.”

On Dec. 21, 2022, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration published a final rule on the safe transport of lithium batteries in cargo planes, which took effect on Jan. 20, 2023.

Without a doubt, there are benefits to rechargeable batteries, and in 2019, the Nobel Prize for chemistry was awarded to scientists John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham, and Akira Yoshino for their work on the development of lithium-ion batteries.

In Goodenough’s citation, it was stated, “Storing electrical energy in batteries is a key factor in solving the world’s energy supply. The element lithium is useful in batteries since it willingly releases electrons.”

However, the fire risk from lithium batteries remains.

In June 2023, four people, including two children, were killed when a fire broke out in an e-bike shop and spread to apartments on the upper floors of a building in New York City.

“We have known for many years [that] lithium-ion batteries are a risk and must be part of a fire risk assessment,” Humby said. “The good news is awareness is growing and we are in a much better place than three years ago with this, but plenty still needs to happen. Education is key.”