A fire caused by a lithium-ion battery tore through a waste management and recycling site near Guildford in the early hours of Friday 10 April 2026, drawing six crews from Surrey Fire and Rescue Service and taking the best part of a day to fully extinguish.
It is the kind of incident that is becoming disturbingly familiar to fire services across the UK, and it raises serious questions for anyone responsible for fire safety at a waste or recycling facility.
What Happened in Fairlands
Surrey Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) were called to John Gunner and Co Waste Management and Recycling on Aldershot Road in Fairlands, near Guildford, shortly before 03:40.
At its peak, 30 firefighters were at the scene.
The fire involved approximately 30 metres by 30 metres of waste and was confirmed to have been caused by a lithium-ion battery incorrectly disposed of in the waste stream.
Parts of Aldershot Road were closed in both directions, and nearby residents were asked to keep windows and doors shut while the incident was ongoing.
A stop was not confirmed until later that afternoon, with four fire engines and two water carriers still on scene just after 14:00. Crews finally left the scene around 15:30.
In their statement, SFRS made a direct appeal to the public: “Please dispose of your batteries correctly to avoid these types of fires. Use the designated battery drop-off points at recycling centres.”
A Growing National Crisis
What happened at Fairlands is not a one-off. The numbers behind lithium battery fires in the UK waste system are stark, and they are getting worse.
Research published by the National Fire Chiefs Council found that lithium-ion batteries incorrectly disposed of in household rubbish led to over 1,200 fires in the UK waste system in the 12 months to mid-2024, up from around 700 in 2022.
A parallel survey found that 94% of UK local authorities described fires caused by batteries in the waste stream as an increasing challenge. The NFCC has described the situation plainly: “Fires involving lithium-ion batteries are a disaster waiting to happen.”
More recent data from business insurer QBE, gathered through Freedom of Information requests to 42 UK fire services in 2025, showed that UK fire brigades are now tackling at least three lithium-ion battery fires a day, reflecting a 93% surge in incidents between 2022 and 2024.
The financial consequences are significant too. Zurich UK has reported insurance claims related to battery waste fires ranging up to £20 million. The British Safety Council notes that battery fires now account for 48% of all waste fires, costing the UK economy an estimated £158 million per year.
Mark Andrews, Waste and Recycling Fires Lead for the National Fire Chiefs Council, explains why these fires are so difficult to manage: “Fires involving waste have always been challenging but lithium-ion batteries add significantly to this by creating unknown and unpredictable risks. These fires can be explosive and spread rapidly with the risk of reignition and toxic gasses a risk to firefighters. These incidents also tie up large numbers of finite fire service resources and firefighters to fully control and extinguish the fire, creating further risks to the community.”
Why Lithium Batteries Are So Dangerous in Waste
A lithium-ion battery that ends up in general waste does not need to be faulty to cause a fire.
When batteries are crushed or punctured in a bin lorry or at a sorting facility, they can enter what is known as thermal runaway: a self-sustaining chemical reaction that generates intense heat and, critically, produces its own oxygen.
This means the fire does not need an external oxygen source to keep burning. Lithium battery fires can reignite repeatedly, prolong incidents for days, and produce toxic smoke that affects surrounding communities for extended periods.
The issue is compounded by the sheer volume of lithium batteries now in everyday use.
Research from Recycle Your Electricals found that over 1.1 billion electrical items containing lithium-ion batteries, and nearly 450 million loose batteries, were binned in a single year.
The same research found that nearly half of UK adults were unaware that electrical items containing rechargeable batteries can catch fire if crushed or damaged.
Disposable vapes alone accounted for 260 million of the items thrown away, each containing a small lithium cell.
The Fire Risk Assessment Challenge for Waste Management Sites
Waste management and recycling facilities face a more complex fire risk landscape than almost any other type of commercial premises.
Highly flammable material arrives in large, unpredictable volumes.
Processing machinery generates heat.
The composition of incoming waste is never entirely predictable.
And now, concealed lithium batteries present an ignition source that operators cannot always identify or control at the point of receipt.
Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the responsible person for a waste site must carry out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment.
The Environment Agency also requires sites operating under an Environmental Permit to have a Fire Prevention Plan in place. These are not the same document, and both are required.
A fire risk assessment for a waste site needs to go well beyond what would be expected for a standard commercial building.
Industry guidance is clear that it should address the organisation of waste stockpiles, maintaining a minimum six-metre separation distance between stockpiles to limit fire spread, robust waste acceptance procedures to reduce the likelihood of hazardous materials entering the facility, provision of adequate firefighting water on site, and staff training in fire safety and emergency procedures.
The Government’s own fire prevention plan guidance states that sites must specifically “describe the measures taken to reduce the fire risk caused by the incorrect disposal of batteries.”
BusinessWatch UK recommends that waste management sites carry out a comprehensive fire risk assessment at least every three years, conducted by a competent assessor with experience of the sector.
Why Standard Detection Systems Are Not Enough
One of the most important and often overlooked aspects of fire safety for recycling and waste sites is the limitation of conventional detection systems.
As industry guidance notes, fire in a waste facility may not produce significant smoke initially, and in large open areas or outdoor storage zones, smoke produced may take too long to reach ceiling-mounted detectors. Dust interference can also cause false alarms, undermining trust in detection systems and delaying response.
The preferred approach for waste management sites combines several detection technologies. CCTV-based video flame detection systems are increasingly recognised as a critical layer of protection, using visual analytics and infrared heat signatures to identify fire at its earliest stages, often before temperatures have risen significantly. These systems can monitor outdoor stockpiles, reception areas, and processing equipment simultaneously, providing alerts that conventional systems would miss entirely.
Thermal imaging cameras offer an additional capability: they can detect sub-surface hotspots within waste piles before any visible fire appears, giving operators a window of opportunity to intervene before a small hot spot becomes a major incident.
Research cited in specialist fire protection guidance noted that one waste management company found 31% of their fires originated in the reception area, from materials such as hot ashes or batteries arriving in the incoming waste stream. Thermal imaging at the point of receipt could have identified these risks before waste entered storage.
Industry guidance for waste processing areas recommends that fire detection and alarm systems include options such as aspirating fire detection, spark or infrared or ultraviolet detection, and CCTV visual flame detection, with all systems connected to plant control mechanisms so that machinery halts automatically when a fire is detected.
The Impact on Neighbouring Businesses and Residents
The Fairlands fire reinforced something that is easy to overlook when thinking about fire risk at a commercial site: a major fire does not stay within your boundary.
Road closures affected Aldershot Road in both directions for much of the day.
Residents in the surrounding area were asked to keep windows and doors closed. Smoke from a large waste fire can contain a range of toxic compounds, and exposure guidance from public health authorities recommends that people in the vicinity avoid opening windows or doors until the smoke has cleared.
For neighbouring businesses, a road closure and a site they cannot access can mean lost trading, delayed deliveries, and significant disruption even if their own premises are entirely undamaged.
The financial impact can extend further still.
Insurance claims following waste fires can reach into millions of pounds.
Where a fire results in contaminated firewater run-off entering surface water or drainage systems, operators can face liability for clean-up costs that extend well beyond the site itself.
Practical Steps for Waste and Recycling Operators
The message from Surrey Fire and Rescue Service after the Fairlands fire was aimed at the public. But for waste management site operators, the responsibility is broader.
Review your waste acceptance procedures. Do your systems allow for the identification and segregation of items likely to contain lithium batteries, including vapes, power tools, and small electricals? If not, they should.
Review your fire risk assessment and Fire Prevention Plan. If either document is more than three years old, or does not specifically address lithium battery risk, it needs updating.
Consider your detection systems. If you are relying on conventional smoke or heat detectors alone, take specialist advice on whether CCTV flame detection or thermal imaging would be appropriate for your site.
Think about your neighbours. A fire prevention plan that considers only the regulatory minimum may not adequately protect the surrounding community. A thorough fire risk assessment will consider the broader impact of a worst-case scenario.
At ESI: Fire Safety, we work with commercial premises across a range of sectors to ensure fire risk assessments are thorough, current, and fit for purpose. If you operate a waste management, recycling, or industrial facility and want to review your fire safety arrangements, get in touch with our team today.
Sources
BBC News, “Firefighters tackle blaze caused by lithium battery” (10 April 2026): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g87jqvqepo
National Fire Chiefs Council, “Over 1,200 battery fires in bin lorries and waste sites across the UK in last year”: https://nfcc.org.uk/over-1200-battery-fires-in-bin-lorries-and-waste-sites-across-the-uk-in-last-year/
Material Focus / Recycle Your Electricals, battery fire statistics: https://www.materialfocus.org.uk/press-releases/over-1200-battery-fires-in-bin-lorries-and-waste-sites-across-the-uk-in-last-year/
QBE European Operations, “Fires caused by lithium-ion batteries double in two years” (2025): https://qbeeurope.com/news-and-events/press-releases/fires-caused-by-lithium-ion-batteries-double-in-two-years/
British Safety Council, “Lithium-ion batteries: a growing fire risk”: https://www.britsafe.org/safety-management/2024/lithium-ion-batteries-a-growing-fire-risk
Environment Agency, Fire Prevention Plans guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-prevention-plans-environmental-permits/fire-prevention-plans-environmental-permits
BusinessWatch UK, “Reducing Fire Risk at Waste Management Sites”: https://www.businesswatchgroup.co.uk/reducing-fire-risk-at-waste-management-sites/
Riskstop, “Fire Protection in the Waste Management Industry”: https://www.riskstop.co.uk/technical-bulletins/fire-protection-in-the-waste-management-industry
