While lithium batteries are getting the bad press a more general problem is the sheer amount of energy in batteries these days - 25 Ah D cell alkaline are getting around and the normal is 18 Ah.
Doing the maths 25 x 1.5 x 3600 = 135,000 J. To put this in perspective this will lift 1,377 Kg 10 m. ie put a car on the roof of a 2 storey house.
On a related subject we were looking at data sheets for some zinc/air batteries. The main suggested use was for hearing aids but an explosion risk was mentioned!