E-cig battery explodes in pocket of popular romance novelist at Las Vegas airport An e-cigarette battery exploded in Scott Hildreth's pocket at McCarran International Airport.The romance novelist is recovering at the UMC Burn Unit.(KSNV/Nathan O'Neal)AALAS VEGAS (KSNV) - Fire officials believe an electronic cigarette battery exploded in the pocket of a popular romance novelist at McCarran International Airport Sunday night.The victim is now recovering at the hospital with third-degree burns and a long recovery ahead.Scott Hildreth told News 3 that the explosion was likely caused by a spare battery from an electronic cigarette he left in his front pants pocket.However, it’s still unclear how it caught fire.“The damage on my leg is pretty severe,” said Hildreth, speaking from his hospital room at the UMC Burn Unit.“My hand from my thumb all the way across my palm - the skin is missing and it’s a very deep burn.”On Sunday night, Hildreth and his wife Jessica were at McCarran International Airport waiting for a flight to Florida.

They were already through security when they stopped to get snacks at an airport shop.“There was a ball of flame, the sound of explosion.I dropped to the floor, my clothes were on fire,” said Hildreth, adding that the explosion came from his front left pocket.The Clark County Fire Department is taking the lead on the investigation.It believes a lithium battery for an e-cigarette was likely to blame.Investigators were back at the airport Tuesday but the cause of the fire has not been determined yet.“What if this would have happened at the Strip or at a 7-Eleven or on a plane?” asked Hildreth.Doctors told Hildreth that he might have to receive skin grafts and his recovery could be at least six months.In the meantime, he has had to cancel at least three book signings scheduled across the country.closeA year ago, a 32-year-old Las Vegas man walked into a southeast valley vape store, bought a Samsung battery for his e-cigarette and went shopping with a friend.Later the same day, the battery exploded in Kendall Tanouye’s pocket, sending him to the hospital with second-degree burns on his leg.

Now, Tanouye and his attorney, Larry C. Hill, are accusing Samsung and Liquid Vape House of product liability, negligence and breach of warranty, according to a civil lawsuit filed Monday in Clark County District Court.Tanouye bought the Samsung INR 18650-25R battery July 30, 2015, “as a single unit, absent any packaging and void of any warnings that might indicate possible dangers associated with handling or use,” the complaint reads.He and a friend had just finished shopping at Wal-Mart and walked to their friend’s car in the parking lot.Tanouye sat down in the backseat and the e-cigarette battery exploded in his pocket, Hill said Monday.“Plaintiff struggled to exit the vehicle as the sparks and flames from the exploding battery continued to burn through three layers of clothing, searing Plaintiff’s skin,” the complaint reads.Once outside the vehicle and still on fire, Tanouye tried unsuccessfully to put the flames out with his hands.He took off his shorts in the middle of the parking lot and, “naked, humiliated, and in excruciating pain from his severe burns,” was taken to Desert Springs Hospital by his friend.

Arriving at the emergency room, Tanouye was treated for second-degree burns that covered 3 percent of his body, mostly around his thigh and butt, Hill said.e cigarette executive starter kitThe complaint alleges Tanouye was unable to sit for extended periods of time and was limited in his mobility by the pain from his wounds.e cigarette garland txHill also said Tanouye is not able to pursue his dream of being a male model because he bears a “large and unsightly scar.” He and his client plan to ask for general and punitive damages.e cigarette hudson wiA manager at the Liquid Vape House, who hadn’t heard of the lawsuit Monday evening, said all batteries are sold with labels and there is a sign hanging in the store warning customers about the misuse of batteries.e cigarette liberte de fumer

“I let people know exactly what’s going on and how to use it,” Tim Johnson said of the batteries his store sells.forum ecigarette kraken“We do let them know before they leave the shop, before they even ask about vaping.” He said he and his co-workers recommend buying a case to every customer that buys a battery.e cigarette interdiction“We do warn them that if they put the battery with keys or quarters in their pockets, they will ignite,” Johnson said.He added that Liquid Vape House hasn’t sold Samsung batteries in at least a year.Samsung did not respond to a request for comment.Find @lauxkimber on Twitter.Blue Diamond Vapors owner Jamie Homampour doesn’t hesistate to correct people who confuse smoking and vaping.“They’re very different products,” he said.“The research behind them is pretty conclusive that they’re different products.” The owner of the Las Vegas vape shop has spoken out against state legislation he said unfairly targeted e-cigarettes and has, like many other shop owners, backed legislation banning the sale of vaping products to minors.

He said it’s unclear how his business will be affected by new regulations announced Thursday by the federal government that could upend the multibillion-dollar e-cigarette industry and for the first time require e-cigarette makers to submit their products for a safety review.E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that turn liquid nicotine into an inhalable vapor.Though nicotine can be addictive, e-cigarettes lack the chemicals and tars of burning tobacco.Yet the devices have not been extensively studied, and there’s no scientific consensus on any potential benefits or harms from “vaping.” Before brands are allowed to stay in the market, regulators would have to check the ingredients, design and flavor of the fast-growing devices, which have found a foothold with teenagers.“Millions of kids are being introduced to nicotine every year, a new generation hooked on a highly addictive chemical” Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said.“We cannot let the enormous progress we’ve made toward a tobacco-free generation be undermined by products that impact our health and economy in this way.” The rules issued by the Food and Drug Administration would also extend long-standing restrictions on traditional cigarettes to a host of other products, including e-cigarettes, hookah, pipe tobacco and nicotine gels.

Minors would be banned from buying the products.Homampour, whose shop employs five people and produces vaping liquids, said he’ll confer with experts to grasp the meaning of the hundreds of pages of documents the FDA released in relation to the new regulations.More than 15 percent of high school students report using e-cigarettes, up more than 900 percent over the last five years, according to federal figures.High school boys smoke cigars at the same rates as regular cigarettes.Beginning in August, retailers will be prohibited from selling the tobacco products to those under 18, placing them in vending machines or distributing free samples.Although nearly all states already ban sales of e-cigarettes to minors, federal officials said they will be able to impose stiffer penalties and deploy more resources to enforce the law.A law banning e-cigarette sales to minors was signed by Gov.Brian Sandoval in June and took effect in October.An effort to ban e-cigarette use everywhere cigarette smoking was banned under the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act drew criticism from vaping advocates and didn’t pass during the last legislative session.

“When the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act was passed, electronic cigarettes were not widely marketed and therefore not included in the provisions of the act.However, many businesses and organizations (including the health district) have voluntarily chosen to include e-cigarettes in their smoke-free policies,” said Southern Nevada Health District spokeswoman Stephanie Bethel.The FDA action comes five years after the agency first announced its intent to regulate e-cigarettes and more than two years after it floated its initial proposal.Public health advocates applauded the decision.The vaping industry says the lengthy federal reviews would be time-consuming and costly and could put many smaller companies out of business.Ray Vuong, one of the owners of Truvape in Las Vegas, said he believes any regulations that could limit the number of e-cigarette liquid flavors and the number of producers could hurt local businesses and benefit major players in the tobacco industry.The regulations “will cause a modern-day prohibition of products that are recognized worldwide as far less hazardous than cigarettes,” said Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association.

“If the FDA’s rule is not changed by Congress or the courts, thousands of small businesses will close in two to three years.” The agency has stumbled before in its efforts to regulate the space.In 2010, a federal appeals court threw out the agency’s plan to treat e-cigarettes as drug-delivery devices rather than tobacco products.House Republicans are already pushing back.A House spending committee last month approved industry-backed legislation that would prohibit the FDA from requiring retroactive safety reviews of e-cigarettes that are already on the market and exempt some premium and large cigars from those same regulations.E-cigarette products introduced in the future would still undergo the safety reviews.Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have long enjoyed a close relationship with the tobacco industry, which has already given more than $1.8 million to members of Congress this election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.Vuong, a former smoker, has been smoke free for about a year and a half, and he said vaping has helped him kick the habit.