FRESNO, Calif — “Hey you can’t vape on the bus man.”
A Fresno City bus driver notices one of his passengers broke the rules. He’s using an e-cigarette on the bus and just moments after the man puts the device away in his pocket, it explodes. The man was taken to the hospital.
First responders took pictures of the charred e-cigarette battery and industry experts say it’s most likely the source of the blast.
“These batteries they are fragile,” said Adam Wooddy, owner of Satyr Vapor. “They have a wrap on the outside that needs to stay intact. If that battery gets torn and that starts to touch metal, or loose change in your pocket or something like that, it can definitely short out the battery.”
Wooddy said he’s familiar with e-cigarette explosion cases across the country. Just a few weeks ago, one exploded in a man’s pocket inside a New York liquor store.
“It’s terrifying to see people hurting themselves and blowing up,” he said. “There’s a lot of videos out there.”
Experts say best practice is to remove e-cigarette batteries between uses and place them in a protective case.
