Figures obtained by the Press Association earlier this month revealed that e-cigarettes or related equipment including chargers were involved in more than 100 fires in less than two years.
The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents all 46 fire authorities in England and Wales, said this could be the "tip of the iceberg".
Jeremy Hilton, chairman of the LGA's Fire Services Management Committee, said: "The spiralling upward trend of fires connected with e-cigarettes is a major cause for concern and much more needs to be done to combat it.
"We expect this to continue to rise as more smokers switch to e-cigarettes.
"Alarmingly, there is no way of knowing the true figure as we understand many cases are going unreported.
"We are urging e-cigarette manufacturers to introduce clear, prominent and graphic new warnings spelling out to users the dangers of using incompatible chargers with e-cigarette batteries."
In August, David Thomson, 62, was killed when an e-cigarette on charge exploded and ignited oxygen equipment he was believed to have been using.