Toronto’s fire chief says a store specializing in e-bikes saw severe damage to many of its items after a fire broke out Wednesday afternoon.
Emergency crews were called to Emmo Ebikes Toronto on Spadina Avenue, between College and Oxford streets, just before 2:40 p.m.
Chief Jim Jessop said the fire involved “multiple” e-bikes and lithium-ion batteries. The exact cause and circumstances of the fire weren’t immediately clear.
“These fires escalate quickly, and produce hazardous conditions for occupants and first responders,” he wrote in a short social media post.
Pictures shared by Jessop appear to show several batteries pulled out of the store and on asphalt for inspection. Inside the establishment, crews can be seen pouring water onto debris.
The incident comes amid ongoing concerns about lithium-ion battery safety and e-bikes.
At the end of May, Jessop reiterated ongoing concerns over lithium-ion batteries as a shed full of e-bikes caught fire. That fire came after two separate blazes ignited on the same week at a recycling yard in North York. Another fire occurred on the balcony of a Cabbagetown highrise in April.
“This is, and I will say again, the fastest-growing public fire safety risk in the city of Toronto. As of today, we are at 47 fires caused by lithium-ion batteries in the city this year, which is a 50 per-cent increase than the same number at this time last year,” Jessop said on May 27.
Jessop said the majority of the fires are related to e-bikes and e-scooters, and many of the batteries for electric mobility devices are not regulated.
“The reason why our laptops and our cellphones are not going into thermal runaway 47 times this year in the City of Toronto is those batteries meet a standard,” he said at the time, referring to the unstoppable chain reaction that starts inside the battery.
“We’ve actually had fire scenes where these batteries have reignited as long as six to eight weeks after the fire had been extinguished, and this is causing significant issues,” he said.
With files from Michael Talbot
Today crews responded to an incident at an e-bike maintenance and repair shop near Spadina Ave & College St. The incident involved multiple e-bikes and lithium-ion batteries. These fires escalate quickly & produce hazardous conditions for occupants & first responders. #Toronto pic.twitter.com/5TPR9mQpti
— Jim Jessop (@ChiefJessopTFS) June 10, 2026
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