Devastating Glasgow fire must prompt serious questions about battery safety
Powerful lithium batteries have been ‘increasingly linked to serious fires in workplaces and residential buildings’
Initially, it appeared to be a relatively small fire in a vape shop on the ground floor of a large, 175-year-old, B-listed Victorian building in Glasgow. But then the flames intensified and, several hours later, most of this marvellous building, including its landmark dome, collapsed, forcing the closure of the nearby Central Station and several city centre streets.
A number of businesses – including cafes, hairdressers and tattoo parlours – were destroyed in the blaze, prompting an immediate outpouring of support for the people who have lost their livelihoods.
Clearly, the cause of this tragedy is not yet known and the investigation must be allowed to run its course. However, the fact that vapes contain lithium batteries will be a focus of the investigators’ attention.
And, as we enter what has been called the “Age of Electricity”, the fire should also raise wider questions about how we ensure we are safe in a world with many more batteries than ever before. Powerful lithium ones are used in an increasing array of devices, from vapes, smartphones and laptop computers to electric vehicles, e-bikes and domestic energy storage.
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1,000 degrees Celsius
According to the British Safety Council, a charity, they have been “increasingly linked to serious fires in workplaces and residential buildings, so it’s essential those in charge of such environments assess and control the risks”. The council stresses that malfunctions are “relatively rare” and the batteries are “safe products” with “many advantages”.
But it cautions that “their safety depends on how they are manufactured, used, stored and recycled”.
Of course, it is entirely possible that vapes were not the cause of the fire, but when they do ignite they can burn at extremely high temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees Celsius.
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Paul Sweeney, a Glasgow MSP who campaigns about historic buildings, said the fire raised “serious questions about regulatory oversight of these vape shops, particularly in proximity to critical national infrastructure and historic buildings. This building was constructed in 1851... So why are we putting a lithium powder keg inside it?”
The unfolding industrial age is bringing many advantages, but we must always be alive to any new threats.
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