A battery fire at a P.E.I. solar farm is finally out. Canada may not be ready for more | CBC News

'We’re a bit behind the eight ball,' says Canadian Volunteer Fire Services Association vice-president

The solar farm battery fire in Summerside, P.E.I., is now deemed out, but fire experts say what happened there should concern communities far beyond the Island.

The blaze at the Summerside Sunbank is believed to have started on Labour Day, Sept. 7, in a battery bank.

It led to a shelter in place order and a voluntary evacuation notice for nearby residents because of the potential risk from toxic smoke. The city deemed the fire to be out on Monday after two weeks.

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Fire and explosion investigation expert Richard Meier said these kinds of fires can last a long time and don't behave the way most people imagine.

"You can’t really put it out in the traditional sense of you’re starving it of oxygen," Meier told Mainstreet P.E.I. host Mitch Cormier.

Across Canada, large lithium-ion battery systems are being added to the grid to store renewable energy, including in rural areas and small communities protected by volunteer fire departments, just like Summerside.

The fire in P.E.I.’s second-largest city is now out, but it has raised a bigger national question: are Canadian fire services prepared to handle the long-lasting, difficult battery fires that can come with the clean energy transition?

Meier said large lithium-ion battery fires can be difficult to control because tightly packed cells can keep setting one another off.

"We're dealing with a fire of lithium-ion batteries in … what's basically essentially a shipping container. So we're talking about a lot of large batteries," he said.