Lithium fires give off a number of toxic gasses like HF. Even if the fire was safely contained, my concern would be if the people on board were exposed to these toxins through inhalation. If a plane is recirculating cabin air, is there a anything a pilot can do to expunge bad air in these cases?
A plane does not recirculate all of the cabin air; it recirculates about 50%. Not ideal for the people but it's not like they are trapped with only the air that they have onboard. Also, the recirculated air is HEPA filtered. I would turn up my personal air nozzle if there was something like this in the future.
