Man killed; BBC article

[FourWinds]

Sad story. Fire chief suspects wrong charger.


BBC News - Man killed as e-cigarette 'explodes', Merseyside fire service says

 

[e-pipeman]

Hmmm. Yes, wrong charger. He also appears to have been using oxygen apparatus. Many people have died using oxygen apparatus and smoking. "Man killled as oxygen apparatus explodes" may have been a fairer title. It just shows the importance of using the correct charger for your device.

 

[classwife]

Even better...A "battery" is what "exploded"...but then we hardly ever see truth in the media anymore...


Why the heck would you charge a battery in your bedroom...smh...

 

[8dragon9]

I know everyone is a little focused on title. But I would like to state that this has a far less negative swing on E-cig user than most articles of this nature. The article pretty clearly states that it appears to be the wrong charger, and focuses more on electrical device and appliance safety than the fact that it was an electronic cigarette. I think given the media's past history with our e-cigs its a welcome change in verbage.

 

[Uma]

The previous incident led the reader to assume a cigarette lighter was involved. This incident could have been avoided had proper investigating, reporting, and research been undertaken. My heart, thoughts and prayers go out to this persons loved ones.

wait... It was the charger, wrong charger... We need a universal charging system for phones and eCigs, this is a ridiculous issue when considering how long these electronics of every kind have been in our lives.

 

[dshgr]

It seems that a lot of these fires happen in the UK. Is there something about the power there that makes the chargers more likely to cause a problem?

 

[Kent C]

What is different here, it seems, is that the gov't fire service seems to be well informed with them telling citizens how to handle the charging with the one guy telling to only use the charger meant for the battery. This is something in other incidents where it was a vaper lounge guy telling the press about it. So without being syrupingly positive It is a bit of a good indicator.

The other thing is ecigarettes just because of the coil shouldn't be around 'concentrations of oxygen', let alone the charger. And it could just as easily been a cell phone battery with an unmatched charger as cause. Another case of a 'pilot error(s) blamed on the plane'.

 

[dragonpuff]

The previous incident led the reader to assume a cigarette lighter was involved. This incident could have been avoided had proper investigating, reporting, and research been undertaken. My heart, thoughts and prayers go out to this persons loved ones.

wait... It was the charger, wrong charger... We need a universal charging system for phones and eCigs, this is a ridiculous issue when considering how long these electronics of every kind have been in our lives.

I agree, we need a universal charging system. We also need to ensure that batteries and chargers have overcharge protection, and that people use the correct adapter for wall charging rather than whatever happens to be lying around. I looked into these battery explosions a while back, and almost all of them involved either using the wrong charger or adapter, or charging cheap, offbrand batteries. A little education goes a long way.