E-Cigarette Explodes, Sets Man's Trousers On Fire, Burns His Leg

A British man was left with burns on his right leg after an e-cigarette, kept in his pocket, exploded, causing his trousers to catch fire on Sunday.

Oscar Khan, 46, of Belgrave, Leicester, was at his home when the incident took place out of the blue. Although he did manage to extinguish the flames as soon as possible, he sustained quite a few injuries on his skin.

"It was horrible. I was in my house and all of a sudden I heard a sound I’d never heard before. "I looked down and my leg was on fire," he told Leicestershire Live after the incident. "There were literally flames on my leg.”

Khan added that he was in shock when his trousers caught fire and if it wasn’t for his wife’s presence of mind, the consequences might have been worse.

"For the first few seconds I didn’t know what to do. I was patting my leg trying to put out the flames with my hands but then my wife came in and helped me get my trousers off. She got me into the bathroom and got me into the shower and ran cold water over my legs,” he said.

He was also grateful that he wasn’t vaping and was within the confines of his home where he had access to water, at the time of the explosion.

“The vape was just in my trouser pocket. I wasn’t using it in any way at the time. I think if this had happened when I was out of the house it would have been a lot worse. Also, I can’t help thinking about what would have happened if I’d been holding it or had it in my mouth at the time,” he said.

Khan immediately rushed to the Leicester Royal Infirmary to get treated. After arriving at the hospital, he found out that he was not the only one that day who was admitted to the center due to similar burns.

“We went to the hospital and the nurse I saw there said she’d never dealt with anything like it before. But then she came back later and said another person had come in with burns on his back and it was because of a vape exploding. I don’t know whether or not these two incidents are related in any way. I just want to make people aware of what can happen with these things. As far as I can tell, it wasn’t the actual vape. It was the battery I think,” he said.

In another instance, Darren Wilson, 37, from Liverpool, England, was left with severe burns in his crotch area after an e-cigarette exploded in the pocket of his trousers, earlier this month. He, too, was not using the device when the incident happened. The burns sustained by Wilson due to the malfunctioning of the device became worse due to acid seeping from the device's battery.

In the wake of an increasing number of fires caused due to exploding e-cigarettes, Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents issued the following advice:

“Poorly made or counterfeit chargers for e-cigarettes have caused house fires. Only buy e-cigarettes from reputable outlets, use the correct charger for the device, follow the manufacturer's instructions and don't leave an e-cigarette charging unattended or overnight. As with other electrical devices like mobile phones and laptops, e-cigarettes should not be charged or used if they've been damaged – battery cells that are damaged pose a chemical and fire risk.”