Fire chiefs warn UK battery safety standards are ‘not keeping up’ with lithium-ion risk

What happened

On 19 November 2025, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) — which represents UK fire and rescue service leadership — issued a public statement warning that the explosive growth in lithium-ion battery use across household products, e-bikes and e-scooters has significantly outpaced the safety standards meant to govern them. The NFCC pointed to Prevention of Future Death reports recording at least six fatalities since 2023 linked to e-bike and e-scooter fires, and warned that lithium-ion battery fires can be explosive, spread quickly, produce toxic gases, and carry a heightened risk of reignition after the initial fire appears to be out — all of which puts the public, firefighters and property at increased risk.

The NFCC's recommendations were specific: enforceable product safety rules rather than voluntary guidance, tighter controls on online marketplace sales of batteries and chargers, improved battery disposal infrastructure, sustained public education campaigns, and further research investment to help fire and rescue services respond to these incidents more effectively.

This warning sits alongside — and reinforces — London Fire Brigade's own January 2026 call for faster government action, and points to a genuinely UK-wide concern rather than one confined to London.

Our read on it

An official body representing every fire service in the UK saying safety standards have not kept pace is a significant, sober signal — not a reason for alarm, but a reason to take basic charging safety seriously and to expect regulation to tighten over the coming months and years. For anyone already affected by a fire, a national warning like this is also useful context when working out whether a product, rather than how it was used, was the likely cause.

Read more

• Original source: National Fire Chiefs Council, "Lithium-ion batteries are everywhere, but safety standards haven't caught up, warn Fire Chiefs" (19 November 2025)
• Trade press coverage: Fire Protection Association, Emergency Services Times
• Our full sourced data tracker, including how thermal runaway works: UK lithium battery fire statistics
• What to keep if a fire has already happened: our battery fire evidence checklist

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