Vape Fires Feed Legislation Calls
Vape-related accidents feed calls from anti-vape activists to clamp down on ecigs.
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by Dave Cross
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“I leaned out of bed and lifted the plug and e-cig up to my nose, and the smell was definitely coming from that. It was red hot.”
At which point Mr Lewis decided the safest course of action was to wrap it in the highly flammable dressing gown he’d received for his birthday. “The next minute, there was an almighty bang and it set on fire. I dropped it on the floor.”
Lewis used a wet flannel from the bathroom to extinguish the flames, he was fortunate a second time if the device was still plugged in.
Smelling a story, he told the Blackpool Gazette: “There could have been battery acid flying around the room, and if we were asleep the bed could have set on fire or anything. We were lucky.”
After dialling 999, two fire engines attended the family’s home. Mark Warwick, speaking on behalf of the fire service, said: “The owner of the house woke up to find an e-cigarette, which had been charging overnight, making strange noises and smoking. The cigarette was then wrapped in a dressing gown and placed outside where it exploded and started a fire.”
Warwick continued: “This family were very lucky the e-cigarette was charging in the bedroom and they became aware of the problem so quickly. At this stage we are still examining the battery, lead, and e-cigarette to try to establish where the fault came from. We would like to take this opportunity to remind the public the correct charging units should always be used with e-cigarettes. We would also prefer e-cigarettes not to be left charging overnight.”
Lewis owned up to using a Samsung charger, one that he uses for multiple devices. Many electronic cigarettes do not accept a 2 amp charge, it causes them to over-heat. Such devices should be recharged with the supplied equipment and the instructions should be read fully.
It feeds into the kind of nonsense spouted by the University of Colorado Hospital Burn Center Director Dr. Anne Wagner: “It seems to me that the battery is the problem with them. Until somebody makes them have safe batteries, they’re not safe to be out in public.” It is highly probably she hasn’t considered for a second what other devices are powered by lithium-ion cells, or she doesn’t care.
A Denver television channel has gone crazy looking for a scapegoat, over people setting fire to themselves, because they can’t or won’t take personal responsibility for their own safety. Vape store owners know why it’s happening but people simply aren’t listening to the basic messages being delivered by Blackpool’s fire service.
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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