Self Storage and Lithium Batteries: Managing a Fire Risk You Can't See

A storage unit holds whatever a customer decides to put in it. Increasingly that includes e-bikes, e-scooters, tool batteries and boxes of power banks, sitting behind a roller door with nobody around to notice the first wisp of smoke.

What has already happened

A large Storage King facility at Burpengary, north of Brisbane, was destroyed by fire. While the cause was still under investigation, tenants learned that an e-scooter business had been operating from inside the facility (Modern Storage Media, n.d.). In Canberra, a Fyshwick unit used to store e-scooter batteries caught fire twice in two months (Region Canberra, 2021).

Fire and Rescue NSW has told a NSW parliamentary inquiry that it is aware of a number of fire incidents around Australia involving e-micromobility devices in storage or at maintenance locations, and that many premises were never designed for the extra fire load lithium-ion batteries bring (Fire and Rescue NSW, 2024).

Why storage is a hard case

Most battery fires are caught early because someone is nearby. In storage, nobody is. A unit can smoulder for a long time before the alarm trips, and by then neighbouring units are involved. Operators also can't inspect what goes in, so the controls have to sit in the agreement, the building and the response plan.

Fire services advise against charging batteries unattended (Fire and Rescue NSW, n.d.), and storage carries its own risk: nearly 60% of the lithium-ion battery fires FDNY investigated in 2023 involved batteries that were not charging (Fire Department of the City of New York, 2025).

Controls operators can put in place

• Agreement terms. No charging inside units, and no commercial storage of batteries or e-mobility stock without declaring it.
• Power. Where units have outlets, consider restricting them so a unit can't become a charging bay.
• Damaged batteries. A clear rule that swollen, dropped or water-damaged batteries are not stored on site.
• Staff awareness. Staff who know the warning signs: hissing, popping, a sweet chemical smell, swelling or heat.
• Equipment at the office and each block. An extinguisher, a fire blanket and a containment bag together, so staff can isolate a suspect battery handed in at the counter.

For multi-site operators

We supply storage operators across multiple sites with matched equipment and bulk pricing. Our Business & Bulk team can quote a per-block package, and our article on what to do with a battery you no longer trust is a useful handout for counter staff.

General guidance only. Fire blankets and containment bags contain a fire and buy time; they do not extinguish thermal runaway. In any battery fire, get clear and call Triple Zero (000). Our extinguishers are certified to EN 3-7:2004+A1:2007 and are supplementary to your statutory fire safety equipment.