On 11 January 2021, the Department received a report of an incident at a mine site where an electronic cigarette (vape) battery spontaneously ignited in a worker’s pocket while he was travelling in a utility with two other workers. The statements received with the report describe a combustion event not unlike fireworks going off and flying around the inside of the vehicle the workers were travelling in. The worker received severe burns to his leg.
Thermal and chemical burns from an exploding e-cigarette battery
This report is consistent with reports of other e-cigarette device spontaneous combustion events in the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK), some of which have resulted in fatalities.
Also in January, an explosion in a parked car in a shopping centre carpark set off a destructive car fire that damaged seven cars in the vicinity. Police confirmed that an e-cigarette device was responsible for the explosion and resultant fire.
A recent study led by George Mason University estimated there were more than 2,000 visits to US emergency rooms from 2015 to 2017 for e-cigarette burns (thermal and chemical) and explosion-related injuries. The study report stated that the number is likely to be significantly higher as the study only considered emergency department presentations.
The vast majority of those injured were men who had e-cigarette batteries in their pockets when the batteries exploded. Some had keys or coins in their pocket which becomes a dangerous mix of metal and lithium-ion batteries, and increases the likelihood of a short circuit occurring. An overheated battery in a pocket can easily set clothes on fire, resulting in severe burns all over the body.
The linked video from NBC Nightly News shows e-cigarette devices exploding in pockets in several different scenarios.