Massachusetts man says vape pen ‘exploded’ in pocket, leaving leg completely 'scorched'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A Massachusetts man claims his electronic cigarette “blew up” in his pocket, leaving his leg scorched with first and second-degree burns.
Tyler Newton, of Lunenburg, told WCVB-News his vaping device, which he was using as an alternative to smoking cigarettes, exploded while he was driving last week, causing a fire inside his vehicle.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Three lithium batteries from my vape — my extra batteries — blew up in my pocket and lit on fire. It scorched my leg completely," Newton told the news station, adding the incident occurred as he was driving through a construction zone.
Luckily, he said, there was no oncoming traffic at the time.
“Otherwise I probably would have gone head-on with someone, because I went back and forth across the road like three or four times before finally getting the fire out and getting to the side of the road," Newton said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Newton then went to a local hospital, where he spent four hours being treated for first and second-degree burns. He also suffered acid burns from the battery, he told WCVB-News.
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Moving forward, Newton said he plans to “seek other alternatives to try to quit smoking,” as the experience has deterred him from using the electronic device.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Newton’s experience isn’t the first. In a July 2017 report, the U.S. Fire Administration said there were 195 separate cases of e-cigarette fire and explosions reported by news outlets in the country between 2009 and 2016 — 61 of which occurred while the device was in someone’s pocket.