Cheshire Fire and Rescue Advice
Another fire service offers advice following a battery-related accident.
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by Dave Cross
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An Ellesmere Port couple have had a lucky escape after an e-cigarette battery exploded “like a firecracker” in their bedroom.
“It went off like a firecracker”
The couple, who wish to remain anonymous, had to call Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service firefighters after a battery exploded when they were trying to put the fully charged battery back into the e-cig.
The husband said: “I charged the battery in an external charger and basically after that when I put the new battery in it sparked and erupted. It was in my hand and luckily I threw it before it exploded.
“It went bright red and started to fizz. I thought ‘that isn’t right’ and threw it on the floor. It set fire to the carpet and burnt the carpet. It also set fire to a pillow and damaged the wall. I ran into the bathroom and got a wet towel and smothered it. If it wasn’t for that the whole bedroom would have been on fire. It was a scary experience. I’ve had some fire safety training in the past so it was second nature.
“It was literally on fire for seconds and it did damage to the wall, carpet and a pillow. In seconds.”
“As if someone was lighting a firework in our bedroom”
His wife said: “It went off like a firecracker. When he went to put the battery back into the e-cig something happened as if someone was lighting a flare or lighting a firework in our bedroom. It was on fire on the floor and he reacted really quickly to that.”
The e-cigarette was bought from a reputable seller and the owners followed all the Cheshire Fire and Rescue Safety advice when charging electrical items by using the charger which was supplied with the equipment, charging it for a short period and unplugging the charger when it wasn’t in use.
Colin Heyes, Station Manager at Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “In this case the family have done everything correctly and they have been unlucky, but that highlights how important it is to follow the safety advice to reduce the chances of it happening to you.
“Battery fires can be fierce and can quickly start a fire in a room. Most people charge things like their phones overnight in their bedroom and if the battery does explode it doesn’t take long to set a room full of soft furnishings on fire.”
More information about electrical safety is available on the Cheshire Fire website.
Editor's Note: This sounds very much like a video that we shared on Facebook a few weeks ago, where a battery with a damaged wrap shorted while being put back into a mod. While the Fire brigade have congratulated the family for doing everything right in terms of battery safety there may well be more to this incident than meets the eye. Batteries do not tend to go into thermal runaway of their own accord, a short is the likely candidate here and a properly maintained wrap should stop this from ever happening. Check your wraps.
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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