Electronic Cigarette Burns

Fond du Lac Fire and Rescue Division Chief Troy Haase says he was surprised to learn about one of the newer sources of burns across the country; electronic cigarettes. It’s estimated 25 million Americans now use electronic cigarettes. Haase says the electronic cigarettes use lithium batteries that sometime overheat and explode. He says, “Make sure your lithium batteries are fine. Use approved power sources we talk about that all the time. When we plug anything in we want to plug directly right into the wall we don’t want to use extension cords. We want to be using the right charging device for the right phone. How many cell phones do you have and how times have you got charging devices am I using the right one? You know it is the same thing for this vaping thing.” Haase recalls a local incident where someone got burned by an electronic cigarette. He says, “We did have one not too long ago where one exploded in a guy’s hand and we were actually called over there for it. It happens it’s a newer thing you know.”