INFO LE PARISIEN. He was coming to the aid of someone in distress. And ended up suffering severe burns. The cause was the e-cigarette found in the pocket of this 38-year-old sergeant, who works at the Draveil–Vigneux-sur-Seine emergency services centre. The incident occurred on Tuesday at around 7.30 pm in a town within his area of responsibility. Seriously injured, he was rushed to the Percy Military Teaching Hospital in Clamart (Hauts-de-Seine).
“His condition is not life-threatening,” reassure officials at the Essonne Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (SDIS), where he has been working since September 2004. “He has suffered burns to his hand and leg and will need a skin graft,” adds the SDIS. “It was an accident that occurred whilst on duty but had nothing to do with the call-out he was attending. “We will nevertheless launch an investigation to find out what happened.”
An explosion caused by an electrical fault
According to initial findings, the explosion is thought to have been caused by the e-cigarette’s removable battery. “This is the case in 99 per cent of explosions,” says Jean Moiroud, who has been president of the Interprofessional Vaping Federation (Fivape) for the past four years. In models where the battery is built directly into the device – the best-selling ones – the integrated circuit prevents any short circuits. This is not the case with removable batteries. People who use them don’t want to run out of battery power, and often carry one or more spare batteries with them. But in the event of an electrical fault, they can release a large amount of energy. That is why they should always be carried in cases and kept away from keys or coins.”
Although such accidents are very rare, they are not unprecedented. “A few years ago, one person lost several fingers. Another person suffered burns to their leg and needed a skin graft,” the chairman recalls from memory.
To prevent such a tragedy from happening again, the management of SDIS 91 intends to raise firefighters’ awareness of this risk. “We will ask them to take great care with their equipment.”