Florida officials probe
cause of fatal vape device explosion
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[May 18, 2018] By
Peter Szekely
(Reuters) - Fire investigators are
examining whether the battery in an electronic cigarette triggered a
small explosion that killed a man in Florida this month, sending
fragments of the vape device into his skull, in what may be the first
such fatality in the country.
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Tallmadge D'Elia, 38, was found dead on May 5 when police and
firefighters responded to a blaze at his home in St. Petersburg.
D'Elia was killed by fragments of a vape device that shot through
his skull. He also suffered burns on more than 80 percent of his
body, the local medical examiner said in an autopsy report issued on
Tuesday.
Police have ruled the death accidental. Fire investigators are
trying to pinpoint the cause of the explosion, mostly by
systematically ruling out any possible causes besides the device's
battery.
"The likelihood of the battery being the actual cause of the fire is
more probable than not," St. Petersburg Fire Rescue spokesman
Lieutenant Steve Lawrence said by telephone on Thursday.
"We feel that the battery had the potential energy to basically turn
the vape mod into a missile, and it penetrated the victim’s cranial
cavity," he said. Vape mods are bulkier, more complicate versions of
pen-sized e-cigarettes that heat liquid nicotine or other substances
into vapor.
Lawrence said the investigation should be finished by next week,
adding that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has taken an
interest in the case.
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While lithium-ion batteries used in e-cigarettes have been known to
cause fires and explosions in rare cases, they had previously caused
no deaths, the U.S. Fire Administration said in a report issued last
July.
The agency, an arm of the Federal Emergency Management Agency,
tallied 195 incidents of burning or exploding e-cigarettes between
January 2009 and the end of 2016 that resulted in 133 acute
injuries, of which 38 were severe.
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"Since the current generation of lithium-ion batteries is the root
cause of these incidents, it is clear that these batteries are not a
safe source of energy for these devices," the agency said.
To help avoid vape device explosions, the FDA warns users against
overcharging batteries or using a charger other than the one that
came with the device. It also recommends that batteries not come in
contact with metal, and that they be replaced if they become damaged
or wet.
(Reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Frances Kerry)
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