Close call: E‑cigarette explosion nearly escalates to house fire

Mike, a 38-year-old man, was rushed to the hospital with severe burns to his hand, following an e-cigarette explosion. He is still recuperating and feels fortunate that the device didn’t explode in his mouth.

Mike Calver, a truck driver by profession, is an e-cigarette user. He recently decided to upgrade his device and buy new batteries, unaware of the disaster to come.

On October 29th, as he was replacing the batteries, they suddenly burst into flames. The e-cigarette started melting in Mike's hands, igniting his beard. In the next few seconds, the furniture and other items in the house also caught fire.

"I purchased a new set of batteries from Amazon and installed them in the e-cigarette. When I switched it on, the battery exploded," recounts the 38-year-old to the Daily Mail.

Fortunately, Mike's wife, Leanne, was home and reacted swiftly. She promptly drove him to the emergency room.

"I was terrified. At that moment, I had no idea whether Mike's hand or fingers had been blown off," shares Leanne about the horrifying incident.

Mike's admission into the department wasn't immediate. He had to endure several hours of pain before he was attended to, with only a bucket of cold water offered for relief. But the burns were so severe that the water would warm up periodically.

A procedure to remove the burnt skin was performed on the 38-year-old. The entire process was dreadfully painful and left Mike with bitter memories of the hospital visit.

"They administered a significant dose of morphine, but the process was brutal. They had to rupture all my blisters and remove the burnt skin from my hand. I spent six hours in the ER, finally leaving at 3 am the following day," elaborates Mike.

Mike's hand is still under recovery. A few items in his apartment were burned in the incident, but fortunately, the fire didn’t have the opportunity to spread. Mike considers himself lucky that the e-cigarette didn't explode when he was using it.