Kirkland man's vape pen battery explodes

KIRKLAND, Wash. — Two weeks later, Brooks Stroman’s leg is still badly burned after his vape pen battery exploded in his back pocket.

“I hear this ‘poooof’ sound,” Stroman said recounting the June 5 incident. “I thought my kids threw a water balloon at me.  So I go at my kids to play and I hear: ‘You’re leg’s on fire,’ and I look and there’s smoke bellowing out of my back pocket.”

Ironically, the father of three started vaping six months ago to help him quit smoking and improve his quality of life. Now he is walking with a heavy limp that makes his job as a landscaper extremely difficult.

However, at Olympus Vapor in Kirkland, general manager Alexander Kraus said vaping can be a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes if people buy high quality equipment and learn how to properly use and store it.  He also showed KIRO 7 how vape pens with internal batteries need to be clicked off before being pocketed.

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Kraus also showed KIRO 7 pens with bigger batteries that need to be removed and stored separately away from any metal objects in between use.

“You just want to make sure you’re not doing anything to cause it to fire in your pocket, because that’s when problems occur,” Kraus said.

Stroman said he always removed the battery and kept it in his back pocket. It occasionally came in contact with his keys. However, he said he vaped for six months before the explosion happened without warning.

“I don’t think this should happen to anybody,” Stroman said. “I want to bring more awareness to people and let them know it’s dangerous.”

Doctors at Harborview Medical Center said they usually see `between two and three cases a month dealing with exploding vape pen batteries.

Cox Media Group